


Alone

by Just_Call_Me_Floss, Marvelous_Reader



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Spiderman - Fandom, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Adoption, Aunt May is dead, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt/Comfort, Jarvis is still A.I, Nightmares, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Poor Peter Parker, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Protective Tony Stark, Tom Holland Spider-Man, Tony Adopts, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-28
Updated: 2018-09-06
Packaged: 2018-09-12 22:29:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 49,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9093253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Just_Call_Me_Floss/pseuds/Just_Call_Me_Floss, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marvelous_Reader/pseuds/Marvelous_Reader
Summary: Peter had lost Aunt May a few months after Tony Stark had asked him to fight alongside him. He felt alone like it was his fault that this had happened and that he should’ve taken bigger precautions. But he was going to get revenge, going to find the people who had murdered his Aunt and make them pay.





	1. Funeral

**Author's Note:**

> Please keep in mind this is my first time writing Peter/Spider-Man so it may take me a few goes to get his character right (suggestions welcome!)

He couldn’t help but watch the rain as it fell to the ground around him, his umbrella keeping a small amount of ground dry at his feet. The rain bounced off the plastic, making small pinging noises as it hit the cover, only to roll off and drop steadily down. He used to find it relaxing, the rain, he always had. It was one of the small memories he had from when his mother and father were alive. It didn’t used to rain often, but when it did all three of them would hurriedly rush out in thick boots and brightly coloured raincoats as they laughed and splashed around in the puddles, not caring about what over thought, enjoying each others company.

But now, now Peter hated the rain. He watched it as it rolled down the gravestone, as it leisurely travelled down the side, soaking the ground at its base. Peters tears mixed in with the rain as his freezing fingers gripped onto the handle of his late Uncle's umbrella as if it might be swept away at any moments. The smooth wood of the base was elegant, leading up to the large black canvas which acted as the only thing Peter could rely on. He didn’t know how long he had been standing there, he didn’t really care. Some part of his mind told him he should leave, like the others had long ago, but he couldn’t. He had buried too many loved ones, watched as their final breaths left their bodies, as their eyes glossed over. He couldn’t do it anymore, he wouldn’t. He simply refused to do it, and if that meant not loving anyone for the rest of his life, then so be it. He would much rather be alone than to have to bury someone again.

Shaking his head, Peter wiped away the slowly falling tears with a shaky hand. He knew he needed to leave, but he didn’t know where too. It was quickly getting dark, and the rain showed no signs of stopping, in fact, it only seemed to be getting heavier. Ripping his eyes away from the gravestone, Peter scanned his surroundings. He sniffled a few times, trying to stop himself from letting another small sob escape from his lips. For the last few days, that’s all that he’s been doing. He can’t remember how he had arranged the funeral, or how he was paying for it, but he was thankful that somehow he is. She didn’t deserve to die, if anything it should be Peter here instead of her. He was the one out fighting crime, the one in front of the villains, the one who was putting himself in danger on a near enough daily basis.

As his eyes slowly glanced around the dull grey graveyard, Peter took in the bare trees, the leaves having fallen in a soggy pile on the floor at the trunks. His feet started moving slowly, sloppily as he weaved his way through to the large path which ran the way through the middle of the site. His feet made squelching noises, his neatly polished boots quickly coming caked in a thick layer of mud. Keeping his eyes straight forward, Peter tried not to think about how he was leaving his whole family behind. His parents were next to his Aunt and Uncle, the four of them staying together as he had to continue his way through the haunting stone blocks, all of them marking another death.

Fresh tears started to fall again, this time a mix of anger and sadness. Every single person here had been alive, had people they loved and cared for, some died of natural causes but some had their lives brutally taken away from them by some selfish pricks who believe they could do more, could choose who died and who lived. These are the people Peter swore he would fight against, saving people who go on to do amazing things or who could simply return home to the ones who mattered. This is what he wanted to do, not fight just for the sake of it. He needed to help whenever he could, and that meant becoming Spider-Man, keeping away from people who mattered the most to him before they ended up like his Aunt May.

His feet touched gravel, the crunching noise pulling him harshly from his thoughts. Focusing once again, he stopped, looking around. Turning left, he started his way down towards the heavy metal gates, the black paint slowly peeling off to reveal rust. As he continued down the path, he heard the crunching of gravel behind him. Spinning around, Peter took in his follower. Standing a few meters behind him was Tony Stark.

“Mr Stark?” Peter called out, standing straighter as he quickly wiped away his tears.

He knew his face was red and blotchy, his eyes swollen and puffy and his hair an unkempt mess on the top of his head. His trousers were baggy, turned up at the bottom to keep them somewhat dry. His shirt was creased, a dark grey which didn’t match the rest of the outfit but it was the best he had but was hidden under a thick wool coat, one of the buttons missing, but it kept him warm in the quickly dropping temperatures which came with the approaching winter. To sum it up, he looked a mess compared to the ever smartly dressed Stark, his signature sunglasses hiding his face.

“Kid.” Stark responded, his hands tucked deeply into his trouser pockets. The rain fell heavily onto his hair, making it droop and fall onto his forehead. Drops of rain started dripping from his nose, running over his lips which were in a tight line.

“W-Why are you here?” Peter asked, taking quick steps closer to the billionaire, covering him with his umbrella.

Tony looked up at the umbrella, seemingly thankful for the cover. Now that Peter was this close, he could see the slightly creased but bright white shirt under the wonky tie. The suit jacket didn’t match the trousers, looking like Tony had rushed to get dressed. His shoes were slightly scuffed at the front, showing that Stark had been walking for quite some time, possibly watching Peter for awhile by the soaking looking of his hair.

“I heard about your Aunt, and wanted to pay my respects.”

“I didn’t see you at her… her… grave.” Peter said, his voice dropping with the final word. He sniffled, using his hand which wasn’t holding the umbrella to wipe his nose as he looked at his feet. He hated that word, it made it final.

“I know. I didn’t want to intrude.” Tony rocked on his feet, looking out towards where Peter had been standing a few minutes ago. “I needed to talk to you”.

“If this is about the Avengers or if you want me to save anything, I’m not really in the mood Mr Stark” Peter practically spat out, his face twisting into a harsh scowl.

Didn’t he understand? Peter wasn’t in the mood to go and save the world when _his_ world had crumbled and fallen apart in a matter of seconds. The last thing on his mind was being Peter Parker, let alone Spider-Man. He just wanted to go back to the flat (not his home anymore, a home was with his family and he didn’t have that anymore) and curl up in his bed and just cry. He was tired of being brave, of being what other people wanted. He just wanted to be a kid again. Not having to worry about paying bills, of getting a job, of where he was going to live or when he was going to eat next. He didn’t want to think anymore.

“This isn’t about them Peter. It’s about you, super hero.” Tony said, his voice gentle and kind.

It startled Peter, causing him to look up with a face of shock. He hadn’t ever seen Stark like this, only the brief moments they had spent fighting alongside each other in Germany and what the media portrayed him as. They usually show him as the Playboy Billionaire he used to be, only briefly mentisuperhero duties or his advances in science because that’s not what the public wanted. They only want to read about this scandalous man and the mistakes he’s made. It turns papers, gets magazines off the stands and guarantees more views.

“It’s about your living conditions.” Stark continued, causing Peter to startle.

“My living conditions? I have a flat” Peter quizzed. He could live on his own. His Aunt had brought the flat before he had even moved in, meaning it was now fully in Peters control. Sure, the bills were going to be expensive but he’d find a way, get a job, do something. He knew that he would struggle, but this flat was Aunt May’s. It was important to keep something.

“You're still a kid Peter.” Tony started, frowning himself. “You can’t live by yourself”.

“Sure I can.” Peter bit back, glaring at Tony. “And anyway, I don’t have any family to go to anymore.” He reminded him. The sadness which had been with Peter since her death quickly changed and morphed into anger. They can’t take away the flat, it was part of her. Losing that would be like losing her all over again.

“You're fifteen! You can’t live alone! It’s against the law.” Stark argued, getting in Peter’s face.

Peter’s face fell, all colour draining from it and the venom in his voice disappearing. His mouth opened, no words coming out as he stepped back. His hands clung onto the umbrella tightly, his knuckles turning white. With wide eyes, he looked up at Stark, seeing his face soften.

“You hadn’t realised…” Tony whispered. “Nobody had told you…” His voice was soft again as he quickly pulled off his sunglasses. “Kid, I’m sorry, I thought someone had told you.”

Peter shook his head. “No… but, but what am I meant to do? I can’t loose the flat! That’s her home, I can’t lose that too!” Peter stumbled over the words, shaking his head frantically. He dropped the umbrella, baking away from Tony. He could hear his feet on the gravel, feel the rain pouring down on him, but he couldn’t do anything. “I can’t! I can’t!” He shouted, falling to his knees as he let out a broken sob. “I can’t lose that too, it’s a part of her!”

Peter felt the rain coming through his trousers as he sobbed. He knew he shouldn’t be crying about this, but the flat was the one thing which kept him strong. It wasn’t his home anymore, that went when she died, but it was still so important. Without it, Peter has nothing to keep him grounded to her. He was doubled over on the ground, letting out heartbreaking sobs. He couldn’t control himself.

Tony let him sob, standing in the rain and just watching the young kid cry. He remembered all of this, remember feeling like there was nothing to carry on for. But he had been older, was going to college and had a reputation to hold on to. He also had Jarvis with him, looking out for him and being his shoulder to cry on. Jarvis was more of a father to him than Howard ever was. After a couple of minutes, Tony crouched down next to Peter.

“Hey, kid. Let’s go.” he whispered, a hand on Peter's shoulders.

Peter nodded, slowly picking himself up. He looked at Tony, his eyes still shimmering with tears. The two gathered Peter’s umbrella, walking down towards those old rusting gates.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading this! I enjoy writing this and as long as I keep getting views, I shall continue updating!  
> Once again, any suggestions are taken on, and if you want to see any characters added, please do say so and I'll try to write them in if they fit the story!

Watching the sunset should be calming to Peter as it dipped down behind the skyline of New York. The rain had stopped around half an hour before, making the sun reflect brightly. With the rain, Peter felt like his feelings were justified as if the whole world was crying alongside him. But the sun, it created a harsh contrast with his feelings. It felt like nature was laughing at him, mocking him and showing that he was really all alone now. The brightness of the last few strands of the sun felt like the world showing Peter it’s middle finger, telling him he wasn’t everything and was definitely not the most important person. But that was fine. Peter knew he wasn’t important, far from it, and wasn’t expecting the world just to stop.

With a sigh, Peter looked down at the mug in his hands. The comedic smile of Goofy greeted him, the swirling steam lifting up the smell from the hot tea inside. It was weird for him, being in Avengers Tower with people he fought alongside and against no more than a few months ago, but no one knew it was him (except Tony, of course). He had been introduced to them all as ‘The Kid with the internship’ and that was all the team needed. Tony must’ve told them more before Peter was with him because the rest of the team looked at Peter with pity in their eyes. Steve even went as far as to put a hand on his shoulder, a small smile directed at him. Clint made him a tea, placing it in Peters still pale hands before ruffling his damp hair. After that, they scrambled out. It was quite funny really, watching them all try to be polite whilst still getting out of their as soon as they could. It brought a small smile to Peter's face remembering Steve and Bucky trying to make an excuse, looking between the two of them as they jumbled out some words before nodding and basically running out of the place. Natasha just waved and left, leaving Clint and Sam to make some small talk with Peter before sneaking out. Tony had just pulled out his phone, smiling at Peter as he dialled someone and then left the room himself.

The doors of the lift opening pulled Peter out of his mind as he quickly looked over his shoulder. His wide eyes were met with a smiling Pepper Potts. Charisma just rolled off of her in waves, instantly making Peter feel somewhat happier. She carried a change of clothes in her arms as she easily made her way over. Her walk reminded him of a panther, beautiful but deadly as if she was gliding instead of walking. People always say to be careful of Black Widow, but Pepper struck more fear into Peter than Natasha did. It seemed that if you disrespected her, treated her as if she was below you, you would pay with your life. No wonder Tony liked her, she could probably run both the Avengers and Stark Industries by herself and still find time to kick ass.

“Peter, lovely to meet you!” Pepper greeted warmly, coming around and sitting on the sofa next to him. She placed the clothes next to him, still smiling sweetly. “Tony said you’d be down here, so I thought I’d bring you a change of clothes and officially welcome you to the Tower.” Peppers greeting sounded genuine, making Peter feel actually welcome in the Tower. It was very different to what he was used to, the tall ceiling and cleanly polished floors completely foreign to what Peter's old home was.

He smiled at her, only a small one but it was genuine. After having been alone for 10 minutes or so, Peter was already starting to regret coming here with Tony. It wasn’t him, not at all. He was more used to the dingy side streets and rat-infested dumpsters which made New York, well, New York. The streets had become part of him. While the Avengers or X-Men or whoever did these superhero things went around saving the world, Peter was busy keeping the streets of Queens that little bit safer. Yes, of course, he enjoyed working with the Avengers, even if it was to fight the Avengers (weird, but he rolled with it), but he didn’t think he could ever live a lifestyle like this. He and Aunt May were never poor but they weren’t rich either. They had enough to get by and a few treats every now and then, but nothing like what Stark had.

“Thank you, uh, Ms Potts, much appreciated.” Peter said, taking a few sips of his (overly) sweet tea. His eyes darting to the clothes beside him, his fingers picking up the shirt on top. AC/DC. So Tonys then. The material was soft, black stains over the faded gold lettering.

“Just Pepper is fine.” Pepper said softly as she stood up. “I’ll take you to your room so you can change.”

“My room?” Peter’s eyes darted up quickly. “I don’t have a room here.” He tried to explain.

Looking up at Pepper, he saw her eyes widen for a moment, trying to understand what to do next. She looked between Peter and the window, thinking for a moment before turning back to him.

“Tony wishes for you to stay here for awhile while he gets all the law business out of the way.” She offered with a smile.

Peter looked back down at his tea, watching the steam again. “How long will that take?” He mumbled, letting go of the shirt. “It’s just I have school tomorrow… and I haven’t finished my homework.”

“Oh Peter.” Pepper chuckled. “I’m sure they won’t mind you missing a couple of days, they’ll understand.” She looked down at her silver watch decorating her slim wrist. “Now please, if you don’t mind.” She gestured towards the hallway.

“Oh! Of course.” Peter hurriedly stood, clutching his mug to stop himself from spilling any. Although he really didn’t drink tea, he much appreciated it and didn’t want to lose it. He followed Pepper, quickly turning and picking up the clothes and tucking them under his arm before they left the room.

As the two walked down the hallway, Peppers shoes making a hurried tapping noise against the hardwood, she explained what each room was.

“Here is the library, as although Tony loves his technology, he also loves collecting things. But nobody is allowed in there,  JARVIS has a lock on it.” She said, as the two continued. Peter looked at the door on the left.

A heavy looking door blocked him from the room, with an impressive lock system installed making it plainly clear that nobody was to enter. It ran smoothly with the wall which had little intends to hold very expensive looking ornaments.

“That’s the cinema room.” Pepper continued her little tour, gesturing to a doorway on the right. “As if we needed a bigger TV, but Tony said we did, so we did.” She laughed, grinning at Peter who had trotted to catch up.

Peter smiled back, taking a sip as the two rounded a corner and climbed some steps. Pepper came to a quick halt at the top, the left wall completely made of glass looking over a darkened yet twinkling New York down below. They stood there, Pepper looking out at the city below, Peter watching her. She shook her head, seemingly coming out of her own little world. Her smile covered her face again as she turned to Peter. “It’s beautiful."

Peter blinked a few times before realising what she meant. “Oh yeah, strangely peaceful too. Not when you're down there, though, you know, with all those people shouting and pushing past like they don’t see you or they’re too important to be there and-” Peter caught himself before he rambled, looking down again as he felt himself blushing.

He had this bad habit of talking too much when he got nervous, Aunt May always told him. It was mainly when he was trying to impress people, he couldn’t seem to help it. It was a pain because he could feel himself talking, could hear the words as he watched the people slowly lose interest, their smiles becoming faker and faker as their eyes slowly glaze over as they escape into their own little worlds. Sometimes he managed to catch himself, sometimes not. He gets called ‘prick’ and ‘tosser’ in school because of it, especially if he’s in a class when he does it, most of the time though he doesn’t care because he has Ned with him to geek out with him.

Pepper just smiled softly. “It’s alright Peter, I understand what you're saying. You're not used to this, are you?”

With a small shake of his head, Peter answered her question. "How about we get you to your room?” He nodded, looking at their feet before Peppers perfectly polished and pristine heels turned, and once again started down the hallways which seemed to go on forever.

They carried on for a few more moments, around another corner, before they came to a stop. Pepper raised her eyebrows, motioning towards the door handle. Peter grabbed it, looking at her once more before pushing the door open.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got to say, I think this might've been my favourite chapter to write so far!

The room was immaculate, everything in perfect place. The silk sheets on the bed were pulled so tight you could bounce a quarter off of them, the pillows perfectly plumped to look like the clouds Peter was half wondering if they actually were. The floor was polished so you could see your own reflection in it, making the room look longer and more impressive. Large walls painted a dark grey gave a calming effect on the atmosphere, modern paintings perfectly matched the theme. So, it wasn’t like Peter’s at all. He was sure that this room was treble the size of his own, the large floor to ceiling windows making it seem to reach out further.

“There are pyjamas in the dressers if you wish to put on something more comfortable,” Pepper offered, speaking quietly behind him as if not wanting to disturb the peace. Peter turned, smiling his thanks at her before moving quickly to the bed, placing down the clothes provided to him before. It made the place look that little bit messier, breaking the perfect symmetry which had caught his attention before. Oddly, it made Peter feel better about being here. “Dinner will be served in a few minutes Peter if you care to join us?” Pepper questioned, allowing Peter a way of backing out of the invitation if he wanted/needed. At the mention of food, Peter’s stomach growled, reminding him that he had not eaten today and actually, he was quite hungry.

“Dinner sounds nice, thanks, Pepper,” Peter took up the invitation, sitting next to the clothes. As he looked around once again, he took another sip of his quickly cooling tea before placing it on the dresser next to the bed. The bright grin of Goofy stood out in the dark room, clashing against the carefully picked out decorations.

“Great, JARVIS will tell you when! See you then,” and with that, Pepper was gone, leaving with a smile (like usual).

“JARVIS?” Peter questioned. Pepper had mentioned them before but hadn’t explained. Peter was about to follow Pepper to ask more when a voice stopped him.

 _“How may I help you, sir?”_ A voice asked from nowhere, startling Peter. He jumped, landing on the wall as he frantically searched. “Ah,” the voice said, “I was wondering if it was you”.

“Who are you?” Peter questioned, scowling as his head moved from side to side. His spidey senses were calm, not alerting of any danger.

 _“I am JARVIS, and you may be?”_ JARVIS answered calmly.

“JARVIS. Where are you?” Peter ignored the question asked, instead slowly lowering himself back onto the bed below.

 _“I am everywhere, but more specifically I am in the wiring. Sir created me, as I am an A.I which help all guests and visitors with their tasks, allowing them a more pleasant stay. Now, what may I call you?”_ JARVIS asked again, and if Peter heard correctly, the A.I sounded slightly bitter.

“Peter, Peter Parker,” he replied slowly.

_“I shall inform Sir that you will be attending dinner. Is there I can help you with master Parker?”_

“Just Peter is fine, thank you JARVIS."

 _“I hope you enjoy your stay Peter.”_ JARVIS replied, sounding genuine. A bit different from SIRI, Peter has to admit. He’ll have to ask Tony about him (should he call JARVIS him? He had a male voice. Do A.I’s have genders?).

Peter sat for a moment, running his fingers over the sheets. The gentle swoosh of the fabric under in his hands was the only noise in the room, gently quiet and soothing. Peter wasn’t used to it, sitting on a bed and it being silent, he was used to the hustle and bustle of the streets below rocking him to sleep. The utter silence in the room put him on edge, reminding him cruelly why he was here.

With a heavy sigh, Peter stood as he made his way over to the dresser. Shrugging off his coat, Peter allowed it to fall to the floor, feeling like a rebel for messing the room that little bit more. With a smirk, Peter kicked off his shoes, watching them sail over the bed and land with a heavy thud out of his sight. Unbuttoning his shirt, he threw it at the end of the bed, the silk of the sheets making his cotton shirt look even worse than he knew it was. How much did the sheets cost? Peter didn’t want to know, feeling his wallet already losing money just at the thought. As he pulled off his trousers, his phone fell on the floor. Bending down and picking it up, he tapped on the screen, watching it light up in his hands. 3 text messages. With a quick slide of his finger, he opened them, 2 from Ned and 1 from Michele.

_**MICHELE: ‘Hey loser, want to get a pizza with me and your other loser friend?’** _

Peter smiled, seeing she hadn’t changed. It was nice, she didn’t treat him differently after Aunt May, instead encouraging him to go out more. Seeing as this had been sent 10 minutes ago, Peter quickly typed out a reply;

_**PETER: ‘Sorry, got plans. Enjoy your date with Ned ;P’** _

_**MICHELE: ‘We’ll have the best Pizza ever and you’ll be sad. See you soon’** _

With a small smirk, Peter tapped out, clicking on Ned's thread of messages instead.

**_NED: ‘Yo P, you hungry?’_ **   
**_NED: ‘Mom got KFC’_ **

Both of these were sent about 20 minutes ago.

**_PETER: ‘Guess your not going for Pizza with Michele?’_ **

Peter replied before throwing his phone on the bed. Looking at the room and the small amount of mess he’d made, Peter felt somewhat better about being here. It was kinda nice having someone look after him. For the last couple of days, Peter’s really being looking after himself. Of course, he went over to Ned’s for food a couple of times (the only time he’s really eaten), but over than that he’s locked himself inside by himself. He didn’t want to deal with the outside world, he didn’t think he had to. If the world was cruel enough to take away Aunt May, then why should Peter have to face it? It was safe in the flat, he didn’t have to deal with people offering him their condolences. Ned stayed with Peter the first night, Michele dragging the two out to a diner the next morning. Peter took one bite of toast before having to rush to the restrooms to throw up. After that, he didn’t really eat much.

As Peter was grabbing the shirt given to him by Pepper, his phone binged. The metallic sound alerted him that it was Ned. Everyone else was on vibrate.

_**NED: ‘Help! She’s dragging me out of the flat to get food!”** _

_**PETER: ‘Have fun :P’** _

**_NED: ‘But I wanted my KFC :(((((((‘_ **

**_PETER: ‘Enjoy your pizza, see the two of you soon’_ **

Peter threw his phone back down, pulling the shirt over his head. It was loose, but it was better than his damp clothes. The darkness of the top made Peter look paler, and the fact it was baggy made him look smaller. Looking in the mirror, Peter saw how much younger he looked again. Everyone was saying he looked twelve in his Spider suit, what were they going to say now? Tugging on the jeans that came with it, Peter nearly screamed in frustration when he had to roll up the bottoms. The waist was too wide, and if Peter didn’t hold them up, he was sure they’d fall down to his ankles the second his started walking. His blue and red socks stood out against the darkness of the rest of his outfit, making him look even more childlike. Grumpily, Peter sat down on the bed, angrily kicking at the floor. He didn’t fit in here, that much was for sure. How long did Tony want him to stay here?

 _“Master Peter, sir wishes to inform you that dinner is ready.”_ JARVIS interrupted Peters little hissy fit.

“Thanks, JARVIS… uh, where do I need to go?” Peter asked, still unsure about talking to nothing.

 _“Where you were before Ms Potts brought you to the guest room.”_ JARVIS replied, sounding cheery.

Peter got up, holding the waistband of the trousers. He grabbed his phone as he started to leave the room, tugging the door open. As it slid to a close behind him, Peter wandered back the way he came, turning down the wrong corridor before JARVIS kindly guided him back. Why was this place so big? This part of the tower was made for the Avengers, but it was designed like a maze. Maybe that was Tony’s plan. Get everyone confused when they were here, playing in Tony’s little mind game. Peter was half certain that Tony was actually sitting somewhere with the security monitors watching with glee as Peter stumbled around the place in utter confusion.

2 minutes later, Peter heard voices as he came down the final corridor. As he came around the corner, Peter could feel the tension in the air. Sam, Bucky and Steve stood to one side, talking between themselves. Clint was talking with Pepper about something, both laughing. But it wasn’t the carefree laugh that you’d imagine, but the one you did when with colleagues or when a weird family member you hardly ever see makes a sore excuse of a joke. Tony and Natasha was having a heated yet hushed conversation in the kitchen area, Tony’s hands flying around the place as if trying to make his point more important. Peter just stopped, looking around the place at each group. He felt uneasy, obviously sensing that although they were all together, the fight a few months ago was still very much there. Should he leave? No one had seemed to notice him, and if anyone guessed that he was, in fact, Spider-Man, that would definitely cause more tension. As he turned to go, deciding that yes, he should leave, Steve seemed to notice him.

“Peter! Have you come for dinner?” The super soldier asked, making his way over. Peter turned, looking up at the mountain of a man.

“Uh, Pepper invited me,” Peter squeaked out, eyes darting to the woman as if seeking refuge with her. He hadn’t forgotten the fight, Peter often played it out in his head, thinking how awesome he was. But now, when he was Peter Parker, he was shy and only a teenager, not a superhero and definitely not an Avenger.

“Yeah, leave him alone Cap, he’s my guest,” Tony cut in, bouncing over to the two. He glared slightly at Steve before slinging his arm over Peter’s shoulders. “I can see you got a change of clothes,” he said as he started leading the two towards the sofas.

“Yes, thank you very much Mr Stark,” Peter thanked, cowering under his arm as everyone in the room went silent, watching the two as they walked across the room.

“Much better than those damp clothes you had on before,” Tony grinned as they sat down next to Clint, Pepper watching them from the other side, “and what do you think of the room? Amazing isn’t it!”

“It’s very… big. And grey…” Peter admitted, before correcting himself, “but very nice, thank you, sir, more than what I could’ve ever imagined,” he said, looking up at Tony to see if his answer was correct. The rest of the team made their way easily over to the sofas and chairs, Natasha carrying two big bags of food. Peter’s eyes watched the bags carefully, feeling his stomach do a flip of either excitement or hunger, he wasn’t really sure.

“Stop integrating the kid Tony,” Steve said, sitting down next to Bucky, Sam on the chair next to them, “and let’s eat!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I'm starting to get the hang of this. What do you guys think? Please leave a comment on what you would like to see!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The actual chapter 4 everyone! Thanks to those who helped get me out of my writers' block, this chapter is for you guys <3

With heavy footsteps, Peter made his way back to his room. Dinner wasn’t really what you could call a success. No one really talked except for Clint and Sam, both of them making feeble attempts at starting conversations. Bucky and Tony glared at one another, most of the hatred radiating off of the later. Peter couldn’t get out of there quicker. After only half a burger, Peter excused himself, faking tiredness. Weary and concerned eyes watched as he left, Natasha full on glaring at him. Right, secret agent, don’t get in her way. Did she know? Had she already guessed? He didn’t think he was that obvious. But he was in a tower filled with superheroes, do they have a radar of sorts to find out other superheroes? Peter wouldn’t be surprised. But the way Clint when on and on about golf and how he just couldn’t miss made him think otherwise. Surely the archer would’ve just straight out said if he had a suspicion. Maybe it was just Natasha then. Probably.

Pushing open his door, the silence of it startled him. The rest of the tower seemed to be constantly humming with all the technology embedded deep within it, yet this room was completely silent. Not bothering to turn on the light, Peter made his way over to the window, looking out at the streets below him. Although it had gone dark a while ago, people still mingled around, not seeming in a rush to get anywhere. The city that never slept, truly. Lights glistened as far as the eye could see, looking oddly like stars. With a sigh, he turned away, making his way back to the bed. Crawling on, the sound of silk under denim ripped through the room causing Peter to grimace. Sitting in the middle of the bed, Peter curled in on himself, arms wrapped around his legs, head resting on knees as tired eyes closed. Alright, maybe he hadn’t faked being tired. For the last couple of nights, Peter hadn’t really been getting his 8 hours. Usually, he wondered around the flat aimlessly for a couple of hours, gentle fingers running over picture frames holding childhood smiles. But now, in this room, Peter felt exhausted. He wasn’t sure if it was the dark colours, the ridiculously soft bed or the silence of the room, but Peter felt himself being lulled to sleep.

Kicking off the oversized jeans and tugging at the baggy t-shirt, Peter tossed them somewhere on the floor along with the rest of his clothes. Toeing off his socks, Peter slipped under the silk sheets, not bothering to change into Pyjamas. His boxers would do. His fingers splayed over the pillow next to his head, running gently over the fabric. The sound was somewhat relaxing, making sure Peter wasn’t left alone with his thoughts. Sleep soon followed, a dreamless night, but Peter was thankful.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Peter woke up slowly, shifting against the unknown fabric. It took his brain a moment to catch up as to where he was. Lying on his back, arms and legs spread out in the overly large bed, Peter sighed. This shouldn’t be where he was, he should be back in his own place, where everything smelt of lavender and fresh cotton, where if you stood on a certain floorboard, it would shake the dresser causing a photo of Peter’s parents to fall on the floor, where the sunlight shone straight through the gap in the curtains straight onto Peter’s face. He missed his home, as shabby as it was, he missed it. Because it was his. This room wasn’t anything like him, with the dark colours and carefully chosen artwork. Peter’s walls were always covered in posters, post-it notes and stupid photos.

Rolling onto his side, Peter looked out of the window. He watched in interest as the window un-dimmed, obviously thanks to JARVIS. He saw people moving around in the streets below, going around their everyday lives like ants. It was reassuring in some sense, the fact that although his life had changed drastically, everybody else’s carried on.

He must’ve lain like that for a good half an hour, his mind just observing everything going on. It was Pepper opening the door which brought him harshly back to reality. Sitting up, Peter watched as she peeped her head around, smiling brightly once she realised that he was awake.

“Hello Peter, how was your sleep?” She asked, obviously a routine instead of actual curiosity by the tone of her voice. She walked fully into his room, closing the door behind her but going no further into the room.

“It was alright, thank you,” Peter replied, pulling the sheet up to his chest. He watched as she scanned over the room, her eyes lingering on the mess of clothes on the floor.

“I’m glad to hear that,” she looked back at him, her smile still resting on her face. It was obvious that she had done this multiple times when in employment with Stark. “Tony wanted to invite you down to his lab if you want”.

“Oh,” Peter’s eyes widened, his eyebrows raising, “oh, sure, thank you.” Peter looked towards the dresser, shuffling in its direction.

Pepper smiled, nodding at him, “I’ll let you get dressed then, JARVIS will tell you where to go,” and with that, she turned and walked out the room, her heels clicking off into the distance before the door closed fully.

Getting up, Peter stumbled towards the dresser, tugging open one of the draws, finding it full of underwear. Ridiculously posh ones, straight from the packet it looked. Grabbing some boxers and socks (both silk, because obviously cotton just didn’t exist in this room), Peter tugged them on. Opening another drawer, he rifled through it until he found trousers closer to his own size. These jeans had been worn down at the bottom, the threads hanging loose. Smiling to himself, Peter tugged them on. They were more him. More run-down, messy yet stylish. Better. In the draw below, Peter grabbed a shirt, giggling as he read it. A black shirt, with the word GENIUS written in elements across its chest. Shrugging it on, Peter already felt somewhat better. The shirt was slightly large on him, going past his hips and hanging loose on the shoulders, but it was more him than anything else he saw in there. Peter grabbed his shoes from yesterday, grimacing at how odd they looked with the fairly casual look the rest of the outfit was, but he had nothing else.

Walking out the room, Peter listened contentedly to the gentle humming of the building, running his hand along the panels of the hallway as he made his way back to the common room. As he walked in, he saw Steve and Sam sitting in the corner. Steve sat with his back towards Peter, his shoulders looking tense as he quietly debated with Sam who was facing Peter, but looking at Steve instead.

“I don’t know Sam, how should I go around it?” Steve whispered, and Peter could hear that he was rubbing his hands together, a small way of comforting himself no doubt.

“Man up, come on Rogers, when have you ever backed down from anything?” Sam quipped back, frowning as he observed Steve’s facial reaction, “no, don’t give me that look,” Sam sighed, leaning back. That was when he spotted Peter who had frozen in the archway. “Oh, hey Peter,” he greeted, one of those sympathetic smiles adults gave children when they didn’t know how to react to them.

Steve’s head whipped around quickly, a moment of panic in his eyes before it disappeared, being replaced by a calculated looks reserved for the professionals. He grinned, leaning back as if inviting Peter to join them, “Hey kid”.

“Um, hi guys,” Peter replied, shrinking back against the wall. Sam and Steve’s expressions softened, obviously sensing the anxiousness of him. “Do you know where Mr Stark is?” Peter asked, the words coming out quicker and louder than he expected. He noticed the minuscule flash of anger on Steve’s face, how his lips straightened, his eyebrows furrowed, his teeth clenched.

“You don’t have to call him Mr Stark,” Steve practically spat out, “he ain't a formal guy”.

Peter was taken aback, his widening as he grabbed the hem of his shirt. He hadn’t seen this side of Steve. Of course, when they were fighting, he saw it, but that was Captain America, not Steve Rogers. It’s like how he’s shy and quiet as Peter, but outgoing and sarcastic as Spider-Man. Putting on the costume, the mask, changed him. He thought it was the same with everyone. Seeing Steve Rogers get angry at the mention of Tony startled him. And it obviously startled Sam too.

Reaching a handout, Sam touched Steve’s arm. This seemed to remind the ex-soldier where he was, who he was talking to. “Tony,” Sam started, stretching out his name somewhat, “is downstairs in his lab”. Steve seemed to calm at the contact, taking a deep breath as he shook his head. Once again, the smile was on his face again as he looked at Peter. “And Steve will take you to him, won’t he?” Sam continued, staring at Steve.

Steve turned to Sam, seeming to have a silent conversation with him before sighing, standing up. “Sure I will come on then kid,” Steve said, a slight edge to his voice. He brushed himself down as he walked towards the elevator.

Peter nodded, shuffling forward as he followed Steve to the lift, sending a small smile towards Sam as the doors closed.

Standing next to Steve, Peter realised how big the guy was. The pictures and videos didn’t do him any justice. Standing at 6ft 2, he made Peter seem smaller than he actually was, and his shoulder width seemed to fill all the space. He stood tall, his back straight and hands clasped together in front of him. He looked straight ahead, jaw clenched. His clothes were immaculate as well, khaki trousers pressed straight, a light blue shirt (which Peter was sure was a size too small, looking at how the buttons strained) carefully done up and tucked in, shoes polished to high heaven finishing off the dad look it seemed he was going for. Comparing that to Peters worn jeans, baggy shirt and scuffed up dress shoes, well, it made Peter feel like he belonged there less. He obviously didn’t fit in, for one he was kid compared to this lot.

When the doors opened, Peter practically ran out. He put space between himself and Steve, watching the way he walked stiffly down the corridor. Following after Steve, he stayed behind him as they walked into the lab, sleek glass doors showing the entrance. The place was massive, stainless steel obviously being the decoration of choice. The floor, walls and ceiling were made out of it, making the light bounce and reflect off of everything. There must be close to 10 workstations around the room, all of which with different projects thrown haphazardly around. Screens were flashing up with different information, some seeming to be running different scans, numbers only coming up quickly before being replaced. Iron Maiden’s ‘Number of the Beast’ was blaring out of the speakers, JARVIS dimming it down once Steve and Peter entered the room.

“J, turn it back up,” Tony mumbled, holding a spanner in his teeth as he looked down on the project he was working on.

 _“Captain Rogers and Master Parker are present, sir.”_ JARVIS replied.

Tony looked up, dropping the spanner from his mouth. A brief few seconds passed with Steve and Tony just glaring at one another before Tony snapped out of it, getting up from the station he was hunched over. “Peter! Glad you could come down!” He moved around, arms held out wide and a somewhat comedic grin on his face, which was covered with oil and sweat, his hair pushed back and messy, a pair of welding goggles on top. His shirt had multiple stains on it, the grey of the fabric nearly completely covered, but Peter could make out a Stark logo across the chest. Jeans with so many holes in it, Peter was surprised that they were held together, was worn low on his hips, causing them to drag somewhat on the floor. That explain how the jeans Peter is borrowing is so ripped at the bottom. On his feet, he wore heavy industry boots, mud, oil and other stains over them. This was the side the media refused to show, the messy and hard working part. Because this didn’t sell, showing how a very successful businessman still worked and developed his projects wasn’t juicy gossip. “I’ve got something to show you,” Tony said with a wink, throwing his arm around Peter’s shoulders. “Nice for you to pop down, Capsicle,” he acknowledged the other man, his smile becoming tighter, more forced.

“Don’t injury him, Tony,” Steve warned before turning around and marching back out of the room, the doors swooshing closed behind him.

Tony’s act dropped, his arm fell off Peter’s shoulders, his smile disappeared. He turned Peter following after him. “I’ve done some upgrades to your suit,” he said, going over to one of the stations, pulling a big box. Hauling it up, Tony crushed and crumbled a scattering of papers as he heaved. Popping open the locks, he flipped the lid up. Excitedly, he motioned for Peter to look inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did you guys think? Was it worth the wait? Please let me know ALL of yours thoughts!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This took ages to get right, but I like the feel of where this is going. Please, feel free to comment!

Standing on tiptoes, Peter peered inside. Neatly folded inside was his suit. The suit designed and made with him in mind. The suit he wore for the Avengers fight was a prototype, just so that Tony knew what to include, what took bigger priorities, how to best suit Peter’s fighting style. With eager hands, Peter pulled the suit out, eyes wide as he looked it over. Bright blue clashed yet complimented vivid red, a black web-like pattern delicately running over the fabric. On the chest piece was a small spider. Running his hand over it, Peter felt a small button. Clicking it, the fabric loosened in his hands, losing any shape it had before. With a startled yelp, Peter jumped back, dropping the suit on the floor as he stumbled in surprise. Tony chuckled, raising one eyebrow as he smirked, “I thought it’d be easier to put on that way, you know, seeing as it’s spandex. Can’t be the easiest thing to shimmy into”.

“Oh,” Peter blushed, embarrassingly gathering up the garment off of the floor, “that’s very…. considerate.” He replied, holding the costume out in front of him. It looked more like a loose onesie this way, but Peter had to admit, it would be easier this way, “but does that mean a bad guy just has to touch the button then suddenly my suit falls off?” He questioned, chewing on his bottom lip as he felt the loose fabric.

“No, I actually put some thought into this suit, there’s no need to insult it,” Tony snickered, “it has a fingerprint reader, so only you can make it loose”.

“Wow,” Peter exclaimed, running his finger over the spider again. The suit tightened, the webbing becoming stiff and giving the suit structure once again. “That’s pretty amazing”.

“I know, I made it,” Tony grinned, leaning on the workbench leisurely, “it’s got a lot of new techs, including a tracker so we make sure that little Spidey doesn’t go and get himself lost”.

“Thank you Mr Stark,” Peter grinned, gripping the suit tightly, “I’m going to try the suit on!” He said excitedly, looking around for a place to change.

“No you're not,” Tony cut through the kiddish excitement, “I have Peter Parker in my lab, not Spider-Boy, so no suit trying-on”.

“... it’s Spider-Man,” Peter pouted, looking down at his feet, “I could try it on quickly-”

“No! What happens in Cap comes down here and sees you? He already hates me, if he finds out I’ve been lying about who you are, then he’d hate me more… anyway, I’ve got some projects I want you to look at. I could do with a lab assistant since Brucey left”

 

\----------------------------------------------------

It was around 6 pm when Pepper made her way down to the lab, her heels clicking rhythmically along the hallway. Crowded over one of his projects was Tony, Peter sitting on the table next to it, his knees tucked neatly under his chin as he listened to Tony’s explanation on what this pointless gizmo did.

“- and if you clicked this button whilst pushing this lever, it’ll turn it to Spanish”.

“Spanish? Why Spanish?”

“Why not Spanish? It’s a very good language!” Tony looked up towards Peter, oil smeared all over his face. His hair was messier than before, his goggles forgotten somewhere else in the lab. Peter wasn’t much better, his shoes in a pile at the foot of the workstation, jeans he’s borrowed in a worse state than before and a large grease splatter covering the chest of the top. His hair had curled at the tips, falling on his forehead which was also covered in oil.

 _“Welcome, Ms Potts,”_ JARVIS greeted, alerting the two boys to her presence.

JARVIS sounded cheery, obviously as glad as her to not see Tony working madly. For the last few weeks, Tony had been working non-stop, upgrading anything and everything. The coffee machine now made your preferred cup before you had even switched on it. The toaster played music. Baths auto filled. He was obviously stressing out, putting on a facade whenever anyone was near him, and that included Pepper. The only way she knew how bad it had gotten was as JARVIS brought up the fact Tony had spent a total of 72 hours straight in the lab. When the Avengers first got together, it helped Tony somewhat. He now had more people caring for him, making sure that he was healthy and the best that he could be. Then he and Pepper split, the Avengers were fighting, and Tony was being blamed for all of their imprisonments. He tried to explain his point of view, even tried to apologise to Steve. But Steve refused to listen, hating what Tony had done to Bucky, only offering his help when the world needed him. Suddenly, Tony had gone from having a sound support group who understood (somewhat) what he was doing, to having no one.

When Pepper had agreed to come back, working as Tony’s right hand (Wo)man again, she had tried to get him help. She dragged all of the team back together, actually dragging Clint to the tower, just so that Tony wouldn’t mope around by himself. She thought having everyone together should help them get back to how they were, but it only created more tension. So when Tony told her about Peter, she was against it, believing that bringing a kid into the equation wouldn’t help. But as she stood there, looking at the two of them, she knew she was wrong.

“Hi,” Tony grinned his toothy smile, eyes squinting at the edges. He was happier now than he has been for quite some time.

“It’s 6 o’clock you two,” she smiled back, looking between the two of them. Peter’s mouth was slightly agape, eyebrows raised as he made a small noise of surprise.

“J, I told you to tell me when it got too late,” Tony quipped, looking up towards the ceiling in mock annoyance.

 _“This is not late to you, Sir.”_ JARVIS snarked back.

“But I’m looking after a kid now, I think I need to feed him,” Tony argued back, smiling back.

_“My apologies sir, I will inform the others that you and Master Parker will be joining them for dinner.”_

“That’s right, I’m being a responsible adult now Pepper, feeding Peter and everything,” Tony turned his attention back to Pepper, his eyebrows raised as a small smirk settled on his lips.

“He isn’t your pet Tony,” Pepper rolled her eyes, before turning to walk back out, “come on Peter, I have some clothes for you to change into,” she said, looking over her shoulder. She couldn’t help but smile at Tony as Peter eagerly scampered after her before remembering his shoes.

“You can’t steal him! He’s my assistant!” Tony shouted after the two of them as they left the room.

 

\--------------------------------------------------

 

Ruffling his hair, Peter checked himself out in the mirror. He wasn’t going to lie, he still looked terrible. Heavy bags were permanent under his eyes, standing out against his pale skin. Chapped lips were constantly nibbled at, messy hair unruly and uncared for. He was sure he had lost weight as well, his collarbones stood out sharply under his clothes. But he looked better. He had clothes that fit him, Pepper had gotten them as well meaning that they were somewhat fashionable. Jeans and a sweatshirt, Peter felt somewhat better by the fact he didn’t need to roll up the bottom of his trousers. Also, the fact his shirt wasn’t too wide on his shoulder, and actually fit comfortably on his torso.

Peter made his way out of the room, opting for no shoes. Make it that bit more casual. Maybe his colourful socks might break the ice because although Peter was planning on moving back into his place as soon as possible, he would like not being afraid of these people.

His phone buzzing in his back pocket caused Peter to jump, scrambling to grab the ringing phone.

“Hello?” He asked, not bothering to look at the caller. Not many people had his phone number, maybe a total of around 5 people?

 _“Hey Parker,”_ a familiar voice chirped back, a distant “Hi Peter!” was also heard somewhere in the background.

“Michele!” Surprised, Peter stopped moving. “H-Hey! What’s going on?” Somehow, his friends calling him was more awkward than texting. They didn’t usually call, seeing as they spent most of their time at school together.

 _“Don’t know what shit you had planned for tonight, but it’s been cancelled,”_ Michele replied, and Peter could hear the sound of a busy crowd in the background. So the two of them were out somewhere. A car beeped, confirming that they were on the streets.

“What? Why?”

_“Because we're going out tonight. You, me and Ned.”_

“But- but I- I don’t want to,” Peter frowned, looking in the direction of the common room. Most of the team were already in there, and the smells of an Indian Takeaway made its way down the corridor.

_“You don’t have a choice in this loser, we’re on our way to yours now.”_

“WHAT?!” Peter shouted in surprise.

 _“Yeah, so you better be ready in 10 minutes,”_ Michele said, a small _“See you soon!”_ from Ned in the background before they hung up.

Looking down at his blank phone screen with wide eyes, Peter panicked. The Tower was about 30 minutes away from his, and with the busy crowd which came with the weekend, it would be most definitely longer than that.

His phone buzzed again, a text from Michele stating “no excuses” flashing up on his screen.

“Shit shit shit shit shit,” Peter mumbled. He knew that they would be at his, Ned even had a key to his place. They would question where he was, knowing those two they’d soon panic and call the police. He didn’t need that right now. With a groan, he pocketed his phone again, tugging at his hair as he whacked his head against the wall behind him.

 _“Master Parker?”_ JARVIS questioned, concern in his voice.

“Oh, sorry JARVIS, did that hurt you?” Peter apologised, looking up at the ceiling as he stopped banging his head.

_“I am an A.I, I do not feel."_

“Oh…”

_“I was just going to thank you on the behalf of myself and Ms Potts for helping Sir today.”_

“Oh? Um… It’s okay?” It felt awkward, talking to the ceiling.

_“I must say, Sir did seem pleases you liked your suit”._

“It was a very nice, can you thank him for me?” Peter questioned, sighing as he ran his hands over his face. What was he going to do about Michele and Ned? They were already on their way, they wouldn’t stop now. Could he convince Tony to fly him to his place? But that would look suspicious as to why, and he couldn’t be bothered to answer any questions right now. How about he texts Ned saying he had just gone to the shops? But then-

 _“Sir worked very hard on that suit, Master Parker,”_ JARVIS cut across Peter’s trail of thought.

“I know JARV-” Peter started to dismiss the A.I.

_“He cannot wait for you to use it.”_

“I can’t either, but now's not the- OH!” Peter stopped, realising what JARVIS meant.

_“Shall I inform Sir that you will not be joining them for dinner?”_

“That’ll be amazing. You're amazing!” Peter cheered, as he made his way to the steps, rushing down to the lab.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2 chapters in 2 days?! That's right! I have my mojo back (for now) so I'm gonna keep these coming as frequent as I can. As always, keep your comments coming!

Tony was right, the suit was a lot easier to put on. After dumping his clothes in the cleaning cupboard, it only took Peter a couple of seconds to get the new suit on.

As he swung across New York, Peter smiled. He didn’t think he could get bored of this, of the freedom that comes with being this high up, untouchable by the crowd below him. Not many people noticed him up here either, mainly it was kids who watched as he swung by, too awestruck to point him out to their parents. He had had a few close calls with window cleaners and office workers, but so far, he had remained mainly un-photographed since the Airport Fight. Not many images were good enough to really make out that it was Spider-Man going past, but the small handful of ones that were good enough quality didn’t really show much. Some people didn’t like the idea of another superhero whizzing around, calling for Spider-Man to be taken down, claiming he was a bad influence on young children. Yeah, because every child wants to run around in tight spandex and get beaten up frequently. Of course, Spider-Man was the biggest threat this city feared.

He made it back to his place in record time, swinging to his flat window. Shimmering it open, he slipped inside without any members of the public seeing him. Stepping down onto his bed, he tugged off the mask, still trying to catch his breath from getting here so fast. Looking around his dark room, he saw the layer of dust, the crumpled clothes, forgotten homework. It was a mess here, a stark contrast to the cleanliness of the Tower. He didn’t have cleaners following after him here, just a run down hoover which spouted out more dirt than it sucked up. Yet this place was more like home. It had ‘Parker’ written all over it.

Knocking on the front door sent a surge of panic through Peter. “Peter?” He heard Ned call. Had it already been 10 minutes? Really?

“Ugh, I-I’ll be there in a minute!” Peter replied, loosening his suit. Muttering expletives under his breath, he threw his suit under the bed, shoving it as far as it would go.

“It’s fine, I’ve got my key!” Ned shouted, the sound of a key being put into the lock stopping Peter in his tracks.

“NO!” Peter shouted, pulling on some jeans, “no, it’s fine, I’m just getting dressed, give me a minute!” Tugging on a t-shirt, Peter swore again when he realised it was on backwards. Running through the flat, he skidded on the floors to the door just as it was being opened. Ned and Michele stood in the doorway, both with a mix of surprise and suspicion on their faces.

“Why were you getting dressed?” Michele asked, squinting at him as the two made their way in. Shrugging off her jacket, she hung it up, still staring Peter down.

“I-I was in the shower”, Peter muttered, shuffling his feet.

“But your hair is dry,” Ned pointed out, toeing off his shoes.

“I meant I was about to get in the shower”.

“Right… Although we called you to tell you we were coming…” Michele rolled her eyes, leading the way into the living room. She flopped down on the sofa, a cloud of dust rising into the air. They watched it silently as it re-settled, “shit Parker,” Michele breathed out, her voice smooth and sympathetic, “you really need to clean in here”.

“I had other things on,” Peter argued, making his way to one of the seats. Sitting down, he tucked his knees under his chin, his arms wrapping around them, pulling the closer. Eyes scanning around the darkened room, memories came flooding back. The dent in the wall beside the dining table from when stumbled and fell over, the stain on the floor from that time Aunt May dropped her meatloaf, the wonky picture frame of Peter’s parents which neither of them ever straightened. With a low sigh, Peter pulled his legs closer.

No one moved to turn on the lights, instead, the room remained dark except for the small light that came in from the streets below. The air was heavy around them, remaining silent as the three teenagers looked around, each remembering fond times that were held in these rooms.

“Peter,” Ned started, coming around the coffee table to stand in front of him, “you okay?”

Looking up, Peter nodded, a small smile directed at Ned.

“You can cry, we don’t mind,” Michele added, tucking her legs underneath her on the sofa, “it’s normal”.

“Some people recommend it, saying that it’s good to show emotion,” Ned agreed.

Peter smiled a tentative smile, looking between his two friends. He would protect these two with his life, they were all he had left. They knew him better than anyone, all the little bad habits he couldn’t get rid of, what foods he hated with passions, the embarrassing stories Aunt May told about him. They were the closest thing to family he had left.

Ripped from his lips before he knew what was happening came a sob, a heartbreaking sound that he had come all too familiar with in his short life. The sound was quite as if only testing. Another came from trembling lips although Peter tried to stop it. His vision became blurry as tears pushed to be released, attempting to fall down his cheeks. Stumbling to stand, Peter stood tall for a moment, looking at Ned, seeing similar emotions rushing over his friends face. Crumbling down, Peter buried his head into Ned’s shoulder, desperate hands grabbing onto his shirt, fists tugging at the material. He sobbed, eyes screwed tight as hot tears were freed, rushing down onto Ned’s shoulders. Comforting arms wrapped around Peter, holding him upright as his knees buckled. Another pair of arms wrapped around him from the side, soothing words being muttered into the top of his hair as if he was a small child seeking comfort from their parents. His shoulders shook as Peter gasped for breath, small pleas for his Aunt coming between his sobs. He wanted her back, he didn’t want to be alone anymore. She would’ve known what to do, would’ve known how to make this better. But the harsh reality that she couldn’t was too much for Peter as he just sobbed, grasping for air as his friends tried to comfort him.

He doesn’t know how long they stood like that, but by the time his tears had stopped and his breathing had slowed somewhat, Ned’s shirt was soaked. Pulling away from his friends, Peter gulped as he wiped furiously at his cheeks as if that would get rid of the evidence of his grief. Ned offered a small smile as Michele wiped away the last few tears from her own eyes.

“Sorry guys,” Peter whispered, looking down at the floor. He wasn’t ashamed of showing emotion, it showed he was human, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t self-conscious about it. These weren’t the movies, Peter knew he was an ugly cryer. If he looked in the mirror, he knew he’d see patchy red skin, dishevelled hair, swollen eyes and chapped lips.

“It’s ‘kay,” Michelle mumbled as Ned nodded. Neither of them looked too good either, the grief they themselves were feeling evident on their face. Over the few years, they had known each other, Michelle and Ned had grown to love Aunt May as their own family. Their pictures were even on the wall alongside Peter’s. Sometimes people forgot how much death can affect friends, not just family. But these people standing in front of Peter were the two strongest people he had known.

Michele was bad-ass, standing up to anyone and everyone who looked down on her. It was like her fuel, the more you dishonoured her, the more she proved you wrong. Teachers would often get into arguments with her, telling her that her technique was wrong or simply wouldn’t work just for her to turn around and prove them wrong. One time, one of the jocks in school pushed over Peter. Before anyone had any time to think, Michelle had punched him square in the face, breaking his nose as well as her own hand. She didn’t get the suspension, though, the jock claimed that he had fallen over. He didn’t want people to know that she had punched him.

Ned was the funniest person you could find, comments said just under his breath often had Peter and Michele in stitches and unable to explain why they were rolling around on the floor in fits of giggles. People never assumed it was him, seeing as Ned was extremely shy around new people. It took Peter 3 weeks of constant bugging to be able to get Ned to have an actual conversation with him. Michelle was longer, seeing as Ned was somewhat scared of him. Could you blame him, though? Peter came in one day after having an argument with Aunt May, and without even saying a word, Ned had changed his mood from moody to goofy by just making some gestures behind the principles back.

He had a good group, Peter did. It was small, they weren’t popular and they were definitely not the best at what they did, but they were real friends, and they were rare. He knew that these around him would do anything to protect each other, he had no doubt about that. And it scared him. Would they have a fate like Aunt May? Would they be used against him by villains? He had to protect them, protect his identity so that they would never be in any danger.

“How about we watch some TV?” Ned suggested, pushing Michele and Peter towards the sofa. Both nodded, Peter pulling the blanket off of the back. As they all settled down to watch ‘Only You’ for about the 4th time, Peter felt somewhat happy. After all, he wasn’t entirely alone. He had his family, the ones who’ll stay beside him throughout everything. And for now, everything was ok.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FUN FACT!- 'Only You' is a 1994 film in which Marisa Tomei and Robert Downey JR star in together, so I thought I'd throw that one in there.
> 
> Tumblr- justcallmefloss Please feel free to message me on there, start a conversation. Also, I was thinking of doing Marvel Universe requests, so feel free to ask me for one!  
> Snapchat- bronwenmjo Want to see my face? (Really? You sure?) Add me here! There'll be pictures of dogs as well ;)


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why hello there! Me again. I know that I've been absent for awhile (a very long time, I'm so sorry!!) but I've back with another chapter. This one has an angry Peter, so just be cautious.

3 hours later, as the clock was striking 10, Michelle and Ned wandered down the steps and away from Peter. Emotionally exhausted, Peter stood with his forehead against the door. It was good to let out your emotions, but sometimes it can just drain you. Closing his eyes, Peter took a few deep breaths before turning around and making his way towards the living area. He had managed to pull together some food that wasn’t going off, and the three of them had sat down and enjoyed an odd bit meal. Mainly tinned beans, but no one complained. He had even found a bag of popcorn, and they all settled down again on the sofa to enjoy some reruns of ‘Friends’. Michele had fallen asleep, lying with her legs over the top of the boys as her snores filled the space. Ned had taken a few videos. Blackmail came in handy sometimes. It was only when Ned's mother had called to ask him where he was did they realise what the time was. So after waking Michelle, Ned and her bid their farewells and left, leaving Peter alone in his empty house.

He was just picking up empty mugs when there was a knock on the door. Rolling his eyes, Peter made his way back to the front door. Ned sometimes left his things here, so it wasn’t unusual to have him return just after leaving.

“What have you- Tony!” Peter stood in the doorway, mouth hanging open, “I-I mean Mr Stark. What are you doing here?” He moved out of the way, letting Tony come inside before closing the door again.

“I should be asking what you are doing here,” Tony snapped, facing Peter. With raised eyebrows, he waited for Peter to reply. When he didn’t, Tony continued: “When JARVIS said you weren’t joining us for dinner, I let it slide. Hey, you're a kid, you do these type of things. But when I went to check on you, and you weren’t in your room, you could say I got annoyed”.

“Oh, ugh-” Peter started to apologise, squirming under the glare Tony was piercing him with.

“But,” Tony cut across, “when I found your clothes in the cupboard by my lab, I was angry. When I was told you had taken the suit, I was fuming”. Peter didn’t answer, instead looking down at his hands as he tried to shrink away, into nothing, just to avoid the wrath of Tony, “I then had to make an excuse as to why you were gone, saying that you had gone for a quick walk. Everyone could tell I was bullshitting, but what could I say? Huh? ‘Oh, the kid I brought to the tower is a secret superhero who’s just stolen his new suit, no biggy’? No! I had to lie to my own team members, to Pepper and Rhodey! Just because you thought you could go swinging about New York for the fun of it!” Tony’s eyes were narrowed, rigid, cold, hard. Pure and utter anger seeped out of him, ripping into Peter with no mercy.

Peter took in a deep breath, cowering away from the burning hard stare directed right towards him, “Mr Stark,” he tried, his voice a shaking whimper.

“Do not ‘Mr Stark’ me!” Tony barked, towering over him now, “do you know the panic which took over when I thought you had just fled? I promised to protect you, yet here you are running wild,” with flared nostrils, Tony stood a mere few inches from Peter, backing him in into a corner, “grab your suit, you're coming home”.

“I am home!” Peter yelled, before realising what he had said, “This is my home,” he tried again, quieter this time, yet the venom still packed behind his words. For a few deafening silent seconds, the two just stared at each other, challenging the other to dare make a move.

“Get in the car,” Tony spat out. His eyes darted between Peter’s, glaring at him. For a few more seconds, Peter started, holding his own although he felt his defence weakening. With a heavy sigh, Peter looked away, chewing on his lip as he looked towards his room.

“I’ll get my suit,” Peter whispered, moving slowly. His legs felt like lead although he knew they were shaking uncontrollably. He stumbled a few times, fighting back the tears for the second time that night. He could feel Tony following after him, probably making sure he wasn’t going to flee again.

Ducking down, Peter felt around blindly until he felt his suit. Fingers curling around it, Peter closed his eyes again. Taking a few steadying breaths, Peter pulled the suit out and turned to face Tony. His face had softened somewhat, his jaw no longer clenched. But his eyes were a mix of anger and disappointment. Peter didn’t know if it was worse, seeing him like this. Saying nothing, Tony turned, marching back out of the room. Without another word, Peter followed, clutching his suit in a ball to his chest.

The two left the flat, Peter using the emergency key to lock up. They made their way down to street level, neither of them uttering a word. Tony got in the flashy car at the curb, Peter getting in the passenger side without questioning it. The inside was as flashy as the outside, the seats made from leather, LED lights lining the dashboard and leading to the steering wheel. Tony obviously had it personalised by the look of the mini arc reactor in the centre of the steering wheel. Looking up at Tony, the blue light from the LED’s and the arc reactor made him look older. The lines on his forehead were prominent, surrounding his exhausted eyes from years of squinting over his work. Grey hairs were starting to appear in his jet black hair, which was in its usual pristine style. His lips were drawn in a straight line as Tony looked out at the streets ahead.

“Mr Stark-” Peter began again.

“Look, kid,” Tony breathed out, glancing at Peter from the corner of his eyes, “you can’t just do things like this to me”.

“My friends called… I panicked,” Peter looked out of his window at the busy streets outside the tinted glass.

“You should’ve told me,” Tony sighed, the venom slowly disappearing from his voice, “you could’ve invited them to the Tower. Kids would find it amazing,” Peter could tell Tony had a small smile on his lips, obviously proud of his home.

“They… They don’t know I’m at the Tower. They think I’m still at home,” Peter mumbled, closing his eyes as he leant against the glass. The coldness of it helped against a headache he could feel coming.

Tony sighed again behind him, tapping against the steering wheel. “I don’t know how to go around this but… You do know the Tower is going to be your new home? You can’t live by yourself,” Tony said it quietly, trying to be gentle around this subject.

Peter whimpered but nodded. Of course, he knew, he wasn’t stupid. There were laws about this, he was a minor and couldn’t be by himself. But he had hoped it would take longer than this. “I know,” Peter whispered, his voice cracking as tears started trailing down his cheeks. The bright lights of the streets were optimistic against his eyelids, the cheery shouts from the crowds outside a sharp contrast to the heavy feeling in his stomach.

“I’m sorry,” Tony offered, his voice gentler than Peter had ever heard from an adult before. The rest of the drive back to the tower was in silence, Peter’s small sniffling being drowned out by the noise coming from the streets around them.

 

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When they got back to the Tower, Tony took Peter’s suit and hid it away from the boy, denying him any knowledge where it could be. Instead, Peter drifted towards his room, casting a small smile towards the group sitting in the common room, not bothering to stop and talk. Closing his door behind him, Peter sighed, the conversation in the car replaying over and over behind closed eyelids. He had known that he couldn’t be by himself, he was only 15. He had no living relatives that he knew off, so he truly was by himself. But he had hoped that somehow, he could get away with it. Until his birthday at least, when it wouldn’t have been so frowned upon that he lived by himself. He could get by, he still had an inheritance from his parents tucked away somewhere, Aunt May denied him spending it. He guessed he had some coming from her as well now. Not much, they weren’t rich by any means. Heck, Peter had been selling his photography since the age of 13 to a newspaper company called ‘The Bulge’. He didn’t make much, a few dollars here and there, but it meant that they weren’t going to be homeless.

A small knocking on the door behind Peter pulled him out of his thoughts. Sniffling, Peter turned around and pulled open the door. Sam stood with a sympathetic smile on his face, trying to make himself look smaller. It didn’t really work, with the man being broadly built, but Peter understood why he tried and was thankful for it.

“Can I come in?” Sam spoke softly, shuffling from one foot to the other. Peter nodded, moving to the side to let Sam in. “How’re you, Pete?” Sam continued as he scanned the room.

“As good as I can be,” Peter replied truthfully, following the man into the room after closing the door. The two sat on the edge of the bed, Peter’s feet dangling off the floor. He slowly kicked his legs, listening to his own breath as he waited for Sam’s reply.

“Peter,” Sam sighed, looking down at his hands. Rubbing his thumbs together, he continued, “this is hard but-”

“But it’s still not right,” Peter interrupted all the fury from before coming rushing back like someone had flicked a switch in his brain. Sam’s head snapped up, looking over at Peter, “I shouldn’t have to be here! I should still be with my Aunt!” He ranted, “if some selfish bastards hadn’t taken her away!” He got up, his hands becoming tight fists. He could feel his muscles straining as his heart pumped erratically, “she didn’t deserve that, she deserved better. If anything, I should be the one lying in the ground!”

“Peter!” Sam stood quickly, moving in front of Peter, “you don’t mean that that’s just the grief speaking,” he spoke slowly and quietly, Sam’s eyes flickering back and forth between Peters as if searching for something, “you're angry, and that’s fine. Heck, I would be too, but you don’t mean that”.

“Without her,” Peter spat, leaning towards Sam who backed a step, his eyes wide, “I have nothing”. Peter could feel the anger pulsing out of him in waves, anger which had been boiling inside of him all week. “Nobody can replace May, no money in the world will fill the hole left by her, and the sooner that people realise that, the better”

“You're grieving, it’s normal to feel like this,” Sam tried again, his wide eyes showing the shock of the words whilst his voice stayed calm and collected, “but you need people to look out for you, to support you.”

“Get out,” Peter whispered, his voice cracking. “Get out,” he said again, eyes dropping to the floor as his body shook, “I don’t need anyone. I don’t need you, or Steve, or Pepper and especially not Tony. Now get out.” The venom still packed behind his words shocked even Peter, but Sam got the idea. With a gulp, Sam started to make his way to the door, his eyes staying on Peter until the door slid closed again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some might be confused as to why Peter's mood is flipping so quickly, but I'm writing from my own experience of grief and loss, and I remember my own emotions just going hay-wire! So sorry if it's real confusing...


	8. Chapter 8

With the bright colours coming from the streets below, Peter paced back and forth as his emotions ran rapidly through his brain. He couldn’t sleep, he didn’t even try. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to, not with all his feelings torn to pieces. He felt sad, angry, depressed, blank, all mixed together. It only took a matter of time for these feelings to bubble up inside, and soon, ornaments were being thrown across the room. The broken pieces of art seemed to leer at Peter from across the room, showing how much of a failure he was for letting this get to him, for letting his emotions rule his head for so long. The furniture shattered into thousands of pieces, representing Peter’s mind, the dents in the walls from where Peter had kicked and punched were the people he were hurting by keeping close, from him being selfish and thinking he could have everything.

As sunlight breached the horizon, casting the room in cruel warm tones, Peter observed the mess. More things he had broken, destroyed because he couldn’t keep it together because he was being a selfish young kid. He wasn’t sure when he had plucked a blanket from the rubble, or when he had backed himself into the mostly clear corner, but here Peter sat. What he had done had burnt itself behind his eyelids, so even when Peter blinked, he still saw it. He had lost control of himself, and this room, his room, had paid for it. This place which Tony had set up for him, had offered to him when he needed it, had become a wreck, nothing being untouched. Paintings had been ripped, the expensive oils on the canvases edged under his nails as a reminder of something else unique and beautiful being taken away, never to be seen again.

When noises started to come back to him, Peter heard the sound of a wounded animal. The raw cries of distress. It took a few minutes to realise that it was him making that sound, being ripped out of his hoarse throat. Trails of tears mapped across his face, falling freely. His tears soon dried, the cries turning into painful whimpers as he rocked himself, head banging against the wall in a constant beat.

It was during the ungodly early hours of mornings that Peter uncurled tight and tense muscles, the blanket falling sadly to the floor. Hesitantly, Peter tiptoed across the room, gaze avoiding the destruction all around as he fixated his eyes on the doorway. If he could get out of this room, out of all his weakness, Peter would be able to leave some of the feelings and thoughts behind. His solitude had allowed him to come to terms with some of the thoughts crashing through his mind. He knew that he would never get over the death of Aunt May, never get over the guilt that weighed him down, but he knew that he could use it to help him. Tony had, he had used the death of his parents, the negative use of his weapons, the loss of friends. He had used that all to become a better person. Someone who strived for more, constantly adapting and moulding himself to be the person that people could rely on. Peter knew, that with Tony’s help, and some of the others, he could expand himself and become a better person.

As his hand curled around the cool metal of the doorknob, Peter tugged, pulling the door open quickly. With a few hurried strides, he was out of the room, on the opposite side of the hallway. The door slowly closed behind him, and with a gentle ‘click’, the destruction that consumed his mind was lessened. Peter’s lips twinged up at the corners into a small and private smile as he rested his forehead against the wall. He curled his fingers, rolled his shoulders and tensed his legs. He had more control over them, they felt lighter and truly his again. They weren’t being held down anymore by the grief, instead, the used that grief pumping through his veins and transformed it into power.

With lengthened strides, Peter started his way through the tower, his head no longer as bowed, his shoulders not as slumped. He felt himself become a better person, felt that he could be relied on. He knew now that he had to accept it and move on. It didn’t mean that it all didn’t hurt, the fact that he had lost his family and now his home, but it did help him level his head and understand who he truly was.

As he rounded the corner to the common room, he was shocked to find that the massive screen which took up the far wall was on, playing some 90’s sitcom that Ned loved.The volume was turned low, a mummer in the room. The rest of the lights were turned off, the windows allowing some of the light coming from the streets below into the room. Peter could see a silhouette of a person lounging on the sofa, and unsure if he should intrude, he turned to go the opposite way.

"Don’t just stand there and stare,” a gruff voice came from the person on the sofa, “it’s rude.”

Peter startled, stopping mid-step. Slowly, as if not wanting to startle a wild animal, Peter turned back. The figure had sat up and turned, body facing towards Peter who could now tell that it was James Buchanan Barnes, better known as Bucky a.k.a the Winter Soldier.

"Ah… ugh…” Peter stuttered, suddenly shrinking under the ex-assassins gaze. He fumbled with the hem of his shirt, twisting it between his palms.

"You gonna come and watch this, or just stand there? Huh?” Bucky grunted, still not moving. The screen behind his back continued to flash the scenes of the show, and canned laughter ran through the speakers in low volume. Peter felt his feet moving cautiously, leaving a large gap between him and Bucky as he made his way onto the sofa. He sat with a straight back, eyes focusing on the screen. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Bucky looking towards him arms crossed over his chest as he lounged back onto the arm of the sofa. He continued to map out Peter before slowly turning his attention back to the Television.

It was only when he was sitting down here that Peter felt the fatigue suddenly crash into him. It felt as if someone punched him in the chest, as tiredness washed over him. With heavy eyes, Peter held back a yawn as he shuffled, getting himself more comfortable. His limbs felt heavy, as if lead. His head started to droop, and before the next commercial break, Peter was asleep.

______________________________________________________________________

Peter woke up with a start, kicking out as he scrambled backwards. He fell backwards, over the arm of the sofa before his tired mind told him that he was, in fact, safe. The blanket which had somehow covered him lay in a heap on the floor, a pillow under it.

“Woah kid,” a voice from the kitchen area made Peter jump, turning around as he backed off again. Tony. He stood, leaning against one of the counters as he leisurely sipped his coffee, “take a moment, it’s ‘kay,” he pushed himself off of the counter, taking the steps down to the common area. A hand stuffed into his trouser pocket, Tony swayed as he sipped his drink again. He raised his eyebrows behind his mug as Peter shuffled his feet. With a gulp, Tony finished his drink, signalling for Peter to sit. As if not having control of his body, Peter sat, followed swiftly by Tony who calmly placed his mug down before turning to Peter. If he could describe the way Tony was currently sitting, it would be like a disappointed mother. “So,” Tony breathed out before ducking his head. He wrung his hands in his lap before looking back up at the teenagers, “are we going to talk about your room?”

Peter looked away, glaring at the mug as if it had done a personal offence. A soft “Peter” from Tony caused his glare to turn to daggers, and he was somewhat surprised when it didn’t explode by the sheer hatred Peter was sending towards it.

“Sorry,” Peter looked down, turning his hands over as he looked at them. He could still see the paint, the rubble, the destruction, “but I don’t want to talk about it.” Peter looked up, seeing a train of thought running through Tony’s mind.

The billionaire sighed, but nodded, “alright, but if you don’t like the decor, you just need to tell me next time. No need to destroy it all, okay?” With a small quirk of his lip, Tony patted Peter on the knee and got up. “I’ll set you up with a new room, god, we got plenty here. Want a certain view? Private quarters- actually, scrap that, I can’t give you your own floor, Pepper says no. How about you choose the furniture? Eh? You can decorate it!” Tony grinned, twisting on his heels as he made his way towards the elevator, “come on kid! We’ve got some designing to do!”

_____________________________________________________________________________

 

It was midday when Peter came back down to the common room, feeling somewhat better than he did this morning. Sliding into the kitchen, he came face to chest with Bucky. “Oh,” Peter exclaimed, backing away with a sheepish smile.

“Mnh,” Bucky grunted, standing as he was before, “nice sleep?” He bit into the Pop Tart in his hand, raising a quizzical eyebrow.

“Uh, yeah, thanks, yeah,” Peter shuffled his feet, “sorry I wasn’t better company last night, you know, should’ve talked or something”.

“Didn’t need you talking,” Bucky spoke around his food, “nice just not to be alone,” he nodded, finishing his Pop Tart with a satisfied hum.

Peter grinned, nodding, “I know, gets kinda boring after awhile”.

Bucky raised his chin curtly in agreement, “Yeah, well, I better go, Nat asked me to scare Clint for her, so you know”, Bucky motioned past Peter before making his way out of the kitchen. With a quick pat on Peter’s shoulder, Bucky was gone. Like, vanished.

“Huh,” Peter hummed, before shrugging and grabbing some mugs to make coffee. Overly milky for him, black with three sugars for Tony.

As he made his way back up to where he and Tony were set up, Peter let his mind wander. Nice not to be alone. True. Maybe Peter needed company again. He liked it when he was alone, he needed it. It gave him time to come to terms with his new life, what was going to happen to him, his friends, his life. But now, maybe he needed people around him. Maybe he needed people to interact with.

“Hey kiddo,” Tony greeted as Peter walked in, not looking up from the paperwork. Legal documents, stuff that needed to be sorted for Peter. It had to be done, they couldn’t avoid it, otherwise, the local council would pick it up, and that is when problems would happen.

“Tony,” Peter started, placing the mugs down in clear room. Tony grabbed his without looking, a mumble of “yeah” heard before he took a drink from his coffee, “I was thinking....”

Tony looked up, “that’s never good”.

Peter rolled his eyes but continued, “I want to go back to school”.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just under 5,000 words on this chapter! Damn.

Tony had people he trusted, who he knew would do a good job, he had them go and clear out Peter’s old flat. Made sure that they wrapped everything carefully, made sure nothing would break. They packed up all the photos, plates, pots, blankets, pillows. They even got the stained and age worn sofa. Memories were cared for, nothing was left, and within three days, the entire place was packed up. The larger furniture, such as the tables and chairs, were being held in a secure storage centre so that if Peter ever wanted them, they were still there. Ornaments and features he wasn’t in desperate need of were also placed here, although they were in labelled boxes tucked at the back. 

It was his old bed sheets, his school work, photo albums and little trinkets which were brought up to his new room in the Tower. This one was closer to Tony, just down the hallway, and although it was smaller, it was incredibly spacious. And with photos smiling at him from walls, blankets offering him hugs and trinkets winking at him, Peter felt better. The room was more appropriate for his age, softer colours to offer comfort when needed. His bed was much comfier also, now that he had his old duvets and pillows. They still smelled of the old place, of that slightly mouldy but not actual mould smell. But tucked away, behind all his clothes, was a box of just May. Things that were too painful to look at but Peter would never dream of throwing away. Her tattered and most loved cardigan, a pair of her reading glasses she always insisted made her look like an old granny, her favourite recipe book which she never actually successfully cooked from. Things which, to an ordinary person, would seem like nothing, but to Peter, meant everything. So as he sat on his new bed, in his new home, he knew that May was still with him in some sense.

A brief knock on his door was the warning he got before Tony’s head appeared, “coming kiddo?” he grinned, stepping fully in. Peter rolled his eyes but nodded, smiling also. For the last couple of days, Tony has been rushing around with many different forms and papers, getting everything in order for Peter. When Pepper had offered to help, Tony denied her, saying that Peter was his responsibility, May wanted Tony to look after him.

Scooping his bag (the one Uncle Ben got him) off of the floor, Peter made his way alongside Tony down to the garage. Tony had decided, for a while, he would be the one taking Peter into school, just to make sure everything went alright.  
_______________________________

As they were pulling up to the school, Tony shifted, his head turned towards Peter a fraction, “you know,” he started, slowing the car down, “if you want to go now, we can, you know that? I can take you to get some awesome waffles.” As the car stopped fully, school pupils stopping in awe at the shiny and sleek sports car, Tony turned fully in his seat, looking at Peter from above his sunglasses.

“I’m fine,” Peter shrugged, grabbing his bag, “I want to do this,” he looked past Tony at the crowd surrounding the car. “Gotta go, maybe we can get waffles another time?” he asked as he grabbed the door handle.

“Nah ah,” Tony shook his head, turning to face the front, “one time offer. Now scram, enjoy your day at school and all that stuff”.

Peter couldn’t help but smile as he opened the door, a quick “see you later Mr Stark” as he got out the car. As he closed the door, Tony revved the car, the crowd parting before he sped off. Turning around, Peter found himself face to face with the crowd.

“Dude,” he heard a familiar voice call from the huddle of people, and Peter watched as Michelle and Ned pushed their way to the front.

“Yeah,” Michelle crossed her arms across her chest, “what the shit Parker? Getting all buddy buddy with Stark now?”

“Well,” Peter shrugged, walking over to them. Instantly, he grabbed Ned into a hug, pulling Michelle into it as well, “I needed to get here somehow, it’s not a short train ride anymore, you know?”

Pulling back, Ned gaped at him. “No way”.

“Yeah way,” Peter’s smile grew as Ned whooped excitedly. Michelle looked like she couldn’t believe it, eyes wide and eyebrows raised, but Peter saw the excitement. “May asked him to look after me if anything went wrong”.

“You could’ve told us, dork” Michelle punched his arm playfully, although harder than most would consider playful, “we’ve been panicking about where you were gonna end up. I think Ned’s mom was getting ready to put an official adoption request in”.

Peter laughed as the trio started making their way through the school rush, “I would’ve but, well, my head's been all over the place,” he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. The large, winding halls of the school were crowded with students, pushing each other and grabbing their school books. The place was heaving, all years mingling together back to back. There was hardly any room to walk, but the three of them weaved their way through carefully, mindful not to stand on bags or others feet.

“Should’ve sent us a text dude,” Ned nudged him, “you went radio silent for ages, then we had that night where we basically kidnapped you, then you dropped off the face of the earth”.

“When actually,” Michelle pointed out, “he was living it up at the top of the tower.”

“My phone broke,” Peter admitted sheepishly, “I kinda threw it at the wall.”

Ned sighed as Michelle shook her head with a muttering of “for shit’s sake”.  
____________________________________________________________________________

 

When the final bell rang, and Peter descended the steps, he saw Happy waiting at the bottom of the steps, earpiece and everything. The two had met at the Tower, Tony introduced them and explained (in private) who Peter was. Happy had eyes trained on him from the moment he exited the double doors. With a stern look, he waited as Peter came to his side.

“Chillax, you're making everyone on edge,” Peter joked as he came to stand next to him, “where’s Mr Stark anyway?” 

“Otherwise occupied, asked me to get you too,” Happy said in a low tone. Oh. So they needed him. Happy escorted Peter with a hand in the centre of his back towards a black cruiser car not far away, which Peter noticed had a very strict looking chauffeur. 

“Peter!” Ned called from behind, both Peter and Happy turning to face him. Michelle stood a few steps back, leaning against one of the trees, “don’t just walk away without saying bye!”

“You forgot your manners?” Michelle raised her eyebrows, eyeing up Happy. Great, so she was already in defensive mode.

“Nah, guys, I was-” Peter looked between Happy and his friends, “uh, I was just gonna put my bag in the car,” he handed his bag to a disgruntled looking Happy. With a tense smile, Peter apologised silently before rushing over to his friends. He could feel Happy staring at him as if Peter would disappear if out of his sight. “Sorry guys,” Peter joked as Michelle came over to stand in the half circle with them.

“So when are we coming over to The Stark Tower?” Ned grinned, rocking up onto the balls of his feet. Michelle nodded beside him, shifting her weight towards Peter.

“Uh, soon, yeah? I just need to get going,” Peter gestured over his shoulder at Happy behind him, who raised an eyebrow at Peter’s friends. 

“Why?” Michelle questioned.

“Don’t know, Tony wants me back, probably got some tight schedule for what time I need to be back,” Peter rubbed the back of his neck, taking a step backwards towards the car. He could feel the urgency in Happy’s gaze, knew that he had to go asap. “I’ll text you though!”

“You don’t have a phone?” Ned pointed out, sharing a look with Michelle.

“I’ll get a new one and then text you guys, okay?” Peter started walking backwards now. He needed to go, he couldn’t waste much more time, “and I’ll talk to Tony about you guys coming over!”

“Peter,” Happy urged, Peter turning and jogging the rest of the way to the car, waving at his friends over his shoulder.

“See you tomorrow!” He shouted as he clambered into the back of the car, Happy joining him and closing the door, the car rolling forward smoothly. “Dude,” Peter relaxed against the headrest, “you don’t need to be so tense,” he sighed, “they’re my friends.”

“This was urgent Peter, I wanted to pull you out of school early, but Tony insisted that you finished,” pulling out his phone, Happy scrolled through some of the files as he talked, “said that you wanted to be normal, needed to be with kids, and pulling you out of school wasn’t what you wanted.” Happy handed over the phone to Peter.

The screen displayed a picture of a man cloaked in dark green, controlling an army of flying robots. The image didn’t show much more, except there was a lot of robots, like a lot. Scrolling down, there wasn’t much more to be seen, except ‘Get Spider-Kid’ underneath the image. Handing back the phone to Happy, who promptly placed back inside his suit jacket, Peter nodded, “so, where is it?”

“In the trunk,” Happy explained as he looked out of the window. Traffic had come to a standstill and drivers were becoming agitated, beeping their horns as if it would suddenly will whatever was causing the traffic to stop too suddenly move.

“You brought it here?” Peter gaped, “how?”

“Yeah, we brought it here, Tony shoved it into my arms before I could even get out of the door.” Outside, police officers ran past, twisting through the fleeing crowds. Suddenly, the honking stopped, tires were screeching as people decided they wanted to get out of the place. People were abandoning their cars, grabbing children and running as they screamed at the top of their lungs. Happy sighed, straightening his suit jacket before turning to Peter, “that’s your cue kid,” Happy signalled, “they could probably do with some help.”

“Ooo,” Peter nodded at Happy for a moment before scrambling out of the car. He rushed to the back and opening the trunk, saw a metal suitcase with a sticky note attached with Tony’s scribbled handwriting reading: ‘Parker’. Peter pulled the note off, throwing it in the trunk as he tugged the suitcase out, Peter pushed his way through the crowd towards a side-alley. He ran in, the tall buildings surrounding casting the area in long, dark shadows. Peter ducked behind a dumpster, throwing off his street clothes. Opening the case, it let out mechanical hisses as it unlocked itself, screens appearing which cast Peter in a bright, electric blue light. The suit was folded up inside, tucked in beside extra web shooters and mask lenses. Peter would stand and marvel at the case itself, but the frantic scream from the streets said that Spider-Man was needed, and quite desperately. Pulling on the suit, Peter shoved his normal clothes in the case in a jumbled heap, locking it again before shoving the case itself between the dumpster and the wall of the building. Finally, Peter pulled on the mask, and suddenly, he was Spider-Man. With a grin concealed behind the fabric, Peter threw out a web, attaching it to the top of the next building. With a running start, Peter swung out of the alleyway, drifting above the crowds below. 

Now that he was up here, above the traffic and the screams, Peter could see the cause of the panic. Those robots were causing mayhem, not too far away and were slowly going further down the streets. “Ah shit,” Peter grumbled, attempting to pinpoint where the team was. A crackle in his left ear caused Peter to stumble with his webbing, nearly crashing into a wall before the crackling subsided and Iron Man’s voice came through.

“Spider-Man, nice for you to show up,” Peter heard through the comms at the same time he saw Tony flying towards him.

“Well, you know,” Peter flung another web, “would’ve been here earlier, but traffic is crazy,” he smirked to himself. He could hear Tony’s disappointed groan which caused Peter to grin wider. 

“We could really do with your help,” he heard Captain saying, and with Tony now flying with him, the two came around the corner and saw the Avengers.

“Hey everyone,” Peter greeted as he came to the floor, running over to where Cap was waiting. Stark landed next to them, “so where you want me?” Peter asked, seeing as the rest of the team were already fighting, Peter knew this wasn’t really time for talk.

“I’m putting you on public duty,” Steve pointed towards the side streets, “make sure none of these bots get out further into the city. Keep them as close to the centre of the fight as possible,” he signalled behind him, where, sure enough, Peter could see most of the team. “Falcon will be with you also, covering the other streets.”

“Wait, so you want me to make sure they don’t fly away? You keeping me out of the fight?” Peter gestured around him, “there’s hardly any out here!”

“Yes, because Falcon is doing a good job,” Steve sighed, “Stark, you handle Spider-Man, Widow needs back up,” Cap pointed at Tony before flipping over a few cars as he sprinted towards the heart of the fight. 

“Look,” Tony sighed, “you ain’t a proper Avenger yet, so they decided to keep you on the outskirts, alright?” Tony fired off a repulsor, aiming behind Peter. Turning, Peter watched as a bot exploded, littering the floor with mechanical pieces. “Wanted to make sure you didn’t get hurt, and anyway, Falcon could really do with some help,” Tony took off, hovering just above Peter, “talk later, don’t die, do me proud,” he said before turning and flying towards the others. 

“What the-” Peter glared after him, muttering to himself as he swung up again. Fine, so they wanted him to do the easy work, keep him from the fight, make sure he doesn’t get hurt.  
“Spider-Man,” Falcon's voice came over the comms, “good to see you fighting alongside me this time,” he greeted, and in the distance, Peter could see his wings glistening in the light.

“Same to you,” Peter monotoned, voice dull. Alright, he was young, but that doesn’t mean that he can’t fight as good as the others. Yeah, he didn’t have as big of a name and had really only been around for 6 months or so, but he was still awesome at what he did. Sighing, Peter swung up higher, before seeing a bot coming towards him. Swinging on one arm, Peter used the other to web up the bot before it got any further, and once the bot was caught, Peter tossed it to the ground. He followed after it, seeing as it attempted to break the webbing, “what are these things?” he asked as he kicked the bot. It turned over and stared up towards Peter. Although its face was metal, its eyes were still menacing. It wore similar stuff to the guy in the photo, although not as extravagant.

“Robots made by Dr Doom,” Falcon replied. Private feed then, seeming as the rest was silent, “created them to take over the world or some shit like that.”

“What they made out of?” Peter glared at the bot, which was still struggling against the restraints. 

“I don’t know, robot stuff. They can rebuild themselves though, so be careful when you destroy them. You really need to make sure that their head is gone,” Falcon flew over Peters' head, in pursuit of another bot.

Nodding at Falcon's word, Peter placed a foot on the forehead of the bot before stamping down. The front of the head went through, touching the back, and the body of the bot came to a stop. Wires sparked from the tear in the metal, hissing at Peter. Peter kicked the head, watching as it rolled and bounced down the street, coming to a standstill after hitting a lamppost.

“Yeah, that should work I guess,” Falcon came to stand next to Peter and extended a hand, “Sam Wilson, nice to meet you.”

Peter took the extended hand and shook it, “nice to meet you, I’m- uh- Spider-Man,” Peter grinned behind the mask, knowing Sam wouldn’t be able to see it, but still.

“So, the whole secret identity thing, huh?” Sam nodded at him, looking him once over now that the two weren’t fighting against one another.

“Yeah,” Peter looked down at his own suit, feeling a bit self-conscious about standing in a skin tight, bright blue and red suit.

“Nice,” Sam complimented, before extending his wings again. “Well, we better get back to it,” Sam gestured around, “saving people from getting hurt is important.”

“Wish I could be in the big fight though,” Peter swung himself up as Falcon took off, both in opposite directions.

Sam laughed, “Nah you don’t, less bruises this way, but all the glory.”

Peter rolled his eyes as he found himself a perch on top of one of the shorter tower, “but it’s funner over there,” he sighed, eyes scanning over the fight area. The streets seemed empty of people, and not much damage to the surrounding buildings, but still, the place looked a wreck. It wasn’t normal for the streets to be quiet, it made Peter feel uneasy. 

“You enjoy getting punched?” Falcon laughed through the comms, making his way through the streets. 

“Not exactly, but I don’t like being benched,” Peter sat down, legs hanging over the edge. He saw another bot on its way, webbed it up and watched it fall to the street below, where Sam beheaded it. “I want to be able to punch something, ya’ know?”

“Punching bags are made for that,” Sam shot back, looking at Peter from the street.

“Not really my thing,” pushing off, Peter webbed his way down the street, “can’t really let myself get the tension out that way”.

“Super strength?” Taking off his lenses, Sam wiped his brow, which was starting to sweat under the heat from the sun, and also from basically playing tag with these things. Peter knew how he felt, super suits weren’t really made with heat in mind, and these bots really did have some speed in them.

“Bingo,” Peter clicked his shoulders, rolling his neck. A fresh wave of bots were on their way, and there did seem to be quite a few. At least 10, all coming at full speed. As the first ones flew towards them, Peter webbed the torso area of the leading one, swinging himself up underneath. Twisting mid-air, Peter ended up on the back of one. As he rode the leader Bucking Bronco style, he sent out two webs as they soared through the streets. He made a net style to capture the other bots behind them, and as they collided with the net which swelled and stretched with the force of them still flying full speed, Peter flipped off of the leader, who was in front of the net. As he fell towards the ground, Peter webbed the bots net, tugging down as he landed which caused the bot to come flying full speed into the ground. It’s head ended up inside the body of the bot. With a huff, Peter turned to get rid of the rest, only to find that Sam had destroyed a large majority of them. It only took a few more webs to take down the rest.

Sam saluted him with a smirk before soaring back up in the air as Captain requested the two to join them at the heart of the fight as it was now winding down, and now that they were in the main comms, Peter wished he could go back into their private feed. No one shut up, Clint and Natasha discussing what they should get for food, Bucky swearing at Cap who had once again gone into the jaws of danger without informing anyone, Tony was having a casual conversation with Thor, who, although was in the comms feed, still shouted his response in his booming voice. Wanda was humming to herself and greeted Sam when he started laughing at her song choice. “Really? You humming ‘Sweet Child ‘O Mine’? Right now?” 

“Don’t insult the classics,” Peter could hear her smile through the comms, and couldn’t help but smile himself. 

“Coming webs?” Sam said as he circled overhead.

“Come on then bird brain,” he witted back before swinging himself full speed towards the rest of the team. The laughter of Sam followed after him as the two came to a halt near the rest. Cap came jogging over, his helmet lost somewhere and suit ripped at the top. He seemed unharmed otherwise. He nodded at the two, and Peter felt like he should salute, yet held himself back because knowing Tony, he would use it as blackmail.

“Seems like Dr Doom escaped halfway through the fight in one of the waves of bots,” Cap said as the rest of the team arrived. Clint tossed Steve his previously lost helmet, a large crack running through the middle of it. This is what Sam meant then. Peter and he had had it easy, whilst the others had been in the heart of the fight. Looking around, Peter saw Bucky had a large gash down the right side of his face, Clint had a few impressive yet painful bruises forming, Tony’s suit had some marks around the joints from where the bots had tried to rip through his suit and Wanda looked exhausted, Natasha didn’t seem overly bothered about what had happened, but her fists were bloody. Thor was standing to the side, tossing Mjölnir between his hands as his attention was elsewhere. “But,” Steve got Peter’s attention again, “Stark believes that he will be able to find out more about Dr Doom through his tech, is that correct?” Steve turned to Tony, who had lifted the faceplate of his suit.

“Should be able to,” Tony drawled, kicking at some of the rubble which had fallen, “can’t promise anything, but we should have some more information about him.”

“Spider-Man,” Steve pulled all attention to Peter, who was very thankful for his mask, as everyone was suddenly looking at him., “you have been requested to join us for the debriefing.”

“Yeah, uh, no, can’t do,” Peter grinned awkwardly, the mask not showing it. Steve opened his mouth, about to start pressing further, so Peter took that as his cue to leave. He shot a web at the nearest building, “I left the stove on, gotta go, good run though team!” Peter swung off, back towards the alleyway his suit was left in. 

Thankfully, the police had pushed the pedestrians further away, allowing Peter to swing into the alleyway without anyone seeing him. With shaking hands, Peter changed back into his normal clothes, shoving the suit quickly into the case. Now he had a problem. He couldn’t just walk out, not with the police still protecting the area. Looking around, Peter scanned the area. It was all deserted, but he could use that, yeah. So, Peter climbed into the building, thankful that it was housing, and after a quick look around, Peter found a place to duck to the side and hide. He’d have to wait until people were freely moving around so that he could slip into the crowd undetected.

___________________________________________

Half an hour later, Peter heard people slowly coming back into the streets. These streets were untouched, they didn’t need to be cleaned, and it seemed they were deemed safe again. Peter sat in the broom closet, waited until he heard a few more people pass him, heard them excitedly talk about what they saw, and when the hallway was quiet again, Peter let himself to leave. Clutching the case close to him, Peter pushed through the busying crowd outside and towards where the Tower was located. As predicted, leading up to the Tower, the streets were super busy as people hoped to see a glimpse of the Avengers. 

“Excuse me,” Peter kept saying, although it was basically useless, and Peter always had to push his way through. Rolling his eyes, he finally got his way into the lobby of the Tower, where upon arrival, Happy appeared.

“What took you so long?” He asked desperately as he took the case from Peter. 

“The crowds dude,” Peter sighed, running a hand through his hair, “they all want to see the Avengers. And I had to wait for a while anyway.” The two of them made their way through the lobby, past the small crowd of journalists and to the private elevators. Happy clicked the button, and when the doors open, Peter walked him by himself, “wait!” he called once he realised that he was alone in the elevator, “aren’t you coming up?”

“No,” Happy brushed down his suit, straightening his I.D clipped to his pocket, “need to make sure these guys down go where they shouldn’t. And have to put this away,” he held up the case with raised eyebrows, and as the doors slid closed, gave Peter a quick wave.

When he was alone, Peter sighed and leant against the back wall, head falling back with a ‘clang’. For some reason, Tony was fascinated with mirrors and had the entire inside made out of them, including the floor and ceiling. It was quite dizzying truth be told. As the elevator soared upwards, JARVIS taking him to the common floor, Peter saw how worn out he looked. He was pale, sweaty and was his body was tense. Peter wasn’t sure if it was due to the fight, although not overly tiring, it was still his first time in the field for quite some time, or he wasn’t sure if he was still emotionally tired. Although he felt better within himself, he still had moments. Over the last couple of days, Peter had sections where he couldn’t remember what he had been doing, had just blanked. He was also struggling with his appetite, just not feeling hungry. It was only out of a sheer need that he ate, and now Tony was keeping a closer eye on him, the two ate together, although Tony wasn’t the best at having often meals. 

The doors pinged open, and Peter stepped out automatically. He was greeted by Clint, who was currently eating his own body weight in yoghurt, “Heya Pete,” he said, around a mouthful, “had us worried when you weren’t here.”

“Yeah, well, traffic was crazy,” he shrugged, “heard you guys were fighting some guy? Doctor something?”

“Yeah,” Clint swallowed, grabbing another pot and ripping off the lid, “Dr Doom, crazy son of a bitch, had these weird bot things which kept flying everywhere. Manic.”

“Sounds like you deserve those yoghurts then,” Peter smiled, coming over to sit next to Clint.

“You betcha,” he grinned as he dug in. “That Spider-Man came and helped.”

“Oh,” Peter pretended to look shocked, “that’s cool.”

“Yeah, he was a bit weird, freaked at the thought of debriefing, but cool enough.”

“Doesn’t he have this thing about, like, a secret identity? Maybe he doesn’t want you guys to know who he is.”

“Yeah, dunno though, Sam got to talk to him most,” Clint shrugged, “seemed to like him.”

“That’s good,” Peter smiled inwardly. It seemed he didn’t do too badly then.

“Mmhm,” Clint hummed, “managed to get a tracker on him, that sneaky bastard,” Clint said, with a grin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys liked it, please leave a like if you did to let me know! \\(0u0)/
> 
> Tumblr- justcallmefloss come and ask me any questions! I also post imagines and one-shots here, come and requests one!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Three chapters in three days?! Yeah, don't expect this all the time... sorry. I will try to update, but not going to promise that it's often, frequent or scheduled. So, keep an eye out for the next chapter!
> 
> I was thinking of making chapters longer, which is why they won't be so frequent. That way, you can sit down and read a chunk of the plot instead of small snippets of it. It should start becoming more interesting soon enough, I have just been doing character development and giving some background.
> 
> Also, I don't have a planned ending for this, or a planned strict plot. Instead, I just see where this will end up! That way, if you guys comment suggestions, I can try and include them!

Peter ran down the hallways, panic coursing through his veins at a high rate. “Tony!” He shouted, ducking his head into every room he passed. Once Clint had said about the tracker, Peter’s mind hotwired and the only thing he could think of was ‘get Tony, get Tony, get Tony’.

Sliding around the next corner, Peter screamed as he collided with something. Strong arms wrapped around him before he could tumble to the floor as the both of them staggered into the wall. Peter caught himself on the wall, and the person supporting him let their arms fall once the two were balanced again. Looking up, Peter saw Steve looking down, face full of concern and surprise.

“Peter,” he quizzed.

“Steve,” Peter gaped, mouth hanging open. For the last few days, Peter had been avoiding Captain America, going out of his way to ensure that their paths would not pass.

“Going a bit fast there, kid,” Steve chuckled with no actual amusement, He was still decked in his suit, covered in dust and rubble, evident that he had just finished wrapping up his duty as the leader of the Avengers. “Where you in such a rush to get too?”

“Uh, Tony,” Peter shifted to look down the corridor behind Cap. No Tony, although he did see Black Widow in a heated, hushed discussion with a poor intern. “Got something I need to tell him, quite urgent,” Peter smiled as he attempted to step around Steve, but just his luck, Steve stepped with him.

Bracing his arms across the hallway, an obvious indication that Peter cannot rush pass, Steve looked down at him, “he’s a bit busy at the moment. Why don’t you tell me?”

“Uh, can’t, needs to be Tony,” Peter rushed, looking anywhere but Steve’s face. He needed to get to Tony, like, now. They could be tracking his suit as he speaks, and he can’t have them finding it here, in the Tower. What kind of questions would that bring up? They would surely to a Tower wide search for Spider-Man, and it would eventually end up back at him. It would get messy after that, and it could split up the Avengers again.

Steve raised an eyebrow, “you know that you can speak to any of us in this Tower, were all here for you.”

“Yeah, I know, but this needs to be Tony. Please,” Peter pleaded, sighing to himself. Yes, Steve, Peter knew that he could talk to anyone, but this wasn’t your typical ‘I’m confused and need your help’ kinda talk, this was his secret identity kinda talk.

Steve huffed, obviously thinking it over before dropping his arms, “he’s with Fury,” he said, gesturing down the corridor, “so you might not get to talk to him for awhile.”

“Oh,” Peter swallowed, looking defeated. He needed to talk now.

“But-” Steve looked over his shoulder before turning back to Peter, “I can get him out of the meeting if it’s serious.”

“Yes!” he shouted before Steve had finished the sentence, bouncing onto his toes, “please,” he added after realising how demanding he sounded. “If you could, please,” he added again, with a smile.

Steve smirked but nodded, “sure thing,” he chuckled before turning and walking back down the corridor. He seemed stiff, limping on his left leg somewhat which made Peter feel guilty for making him move more, but this was a matter of urgency, and he had offered. So, Peter followed after him, a pace behind. In his suit, Steve seemed three times wider, his dirty blond hair appearing lighter against the dark tones of the material. His heavy combat boots made no sounds as he stalked down the corridor, years of military stealth training allowing him to be silent. The past Black Widow and the startled intern, who both seemed tiny compared to the Super Soldier. They came to the last room, a large area with minimal furniture. It was where Fury got everyone after a fight, just to get their quick statements before they were properly debriefed later. It had large windows, much like the rest of the Tower, which overlooked the city below. One-half of the view was obstructed by the bottom section of the ‘A’ which still hung to the side of the Tower.

Steve knocked on the glass door, before opening it and walking in without waiting for a response. Tony was sat in one of the futuristic looking chairs, pinching the top his nose as he re-told his perspective on the fight, but as Steve and Peter walked in, his attention snapped to the kid. “Peter!” He exclaimed, sitting up straighter, “what are you doing here kiddo?”

“Urgent,” Peter blurted out, standing stock still and looking at Tony with wide eyes. Steve had gone over to Fury and in hushed tones, explained to the director why the two had come here. Fury didn’t look overly happy that his meeting had been interrupted, leaning back on the steel desk behind him, glaring in Peter’s general direction.

Tony got out of his chair quicker than Peter had ever seen before and rushed over to the kid. “What is it, Petey?” Concerned, Tony stepped between Peter and Fury, blocking the two other men from seeing the teenager.

“Need to talk in private,” Peter whispered, glancing around Tony towards the others in the room. Sure enough, their attention was now on him, Steve looking concerned, Fury looking more annoyed. Tony glanced over his shoulder, towards them, before grabbing Peter’s shoulders and pushing him out of the room. He briskly walked down the corridors, a tense smile and wave at Natasha, as he pushed Peter into one of the private rooms, locking the door behind them.

The room was modernly decorated, sleek furniture and dark woods as the theme. He and Tony stood in the centre, beside one of the creepy modern art statues, which put Peter on edge.  
“They put a tracker on my suit,” Peter told Tony, eyes not leaving the statute. It didn’t look like anything in particular, but that’s what made it modern art he expected. Tearing his eyes from it, Peter looked at Tony’s face, “Sam planted it, don’t know when, but he did.”

Tony gaped for a moment, “how do you know?”

“Clint told me,” Peter watched Tony’s expression change from shock to anger, and truth be told, it scared Peter how quickly Tony’s emotions had changed.

“Fucking great,” Tony breathed out, running his hands through his hair, giving it a frustrated tug, “right,” he mused, turning around in a circle before facing Peter again, “Happy has your suit, does he not?”

“He does,” Peter nodded, feeling his stomach do anxious flips. He didn’t like seeing Tony like this.

“Go get it from him,” Tony pointed at Peter, “then, you bring in back up to me in my lab. We’ll find the tracker, it can’t be that hidden, right?” Tony chewed the inside of his cheek, “and then, when I have the tracker out of the suit, you will go somewhere far from here and place the tracker somewhere where no one will think to look. Send the ones who wanted that planted on a wild goose chase.”

“And whatwhat are you going to do?” Peter asked, eyes frantic, “I guess you had no idea about this tracker.”

“No I no idea,” Tony’s eyes were filled with pure anger, his chest puffed out and his nostrils flared, “but I will find out who got this planted.”

“And then what?”

“I don’t know,” Tony spat out, anger directed somewhere else, “but it ain’t going to be pleasant.”

____________________________________________________________

 _“Mater Parker,”_ JARVIS greeted as Peter rushed into the elevator.

“JARVIS, do you know where Happy is?” He rushed, the doors closing as he started the descent. Tony hadn’t been happy and had basically stormed out of the room after informing Peter what to do. Steve had been standing at the end of the hallway, arms crossed over his chest as he gave a Peter a quick, reassuring nod as he had rushed away in the opposite direction. Before he could go around the corner, Peter had heard Tony slam the door to the conference room, shocking everyone who heard it into silence. Peter had gulped, pushing his legs faster.

 _“Currently, Mr Hogan is in the media conference room,”_ Peter could be mistaken, but he was sure that he felt the elevator speeding up.

“How do I get access?” Peter paced as the floor numbers decreased rapidly.

 _“I shall guide you”_ JARVIS sounded somewhat hurried, and soon enough, the elevator came to a sudden stop, the doors opening to the main reception floor. Peter scurried out, pulling his sweatshirt closer around his body. He avoided eye contact, instead, spotting the conference signs and making a beeline to the security checks. The emergency barrier Peter stood next to clicked open, allowing him access. The guards looked shocked but allowed Peter to pass, JARVIS having told them that “Master Parker is under Mr Starks protection”, and although he heard the disgruntled complaints from the journalists still lining up, Peter paid them no attention and pushed through the doors.

Standing beside the podium, checking the surrounding area, was Happy Hogan, whose eyes snapped up to the sound of the banging of the doors. His hand on his hip relaxed as he saw it was Peter, who weaved his way through the small crowd who gave the teenager annoyed glances as he butted through their conversations.

“Happy,” Peter grabbed his arm and tugged him towards the back in urgency, “where’s the case?”

“Is there another emergency?” Happy's hand went back to his hip, his body going from relaxed to alert mode as if someone had flicked a switch. His free hand came up to Peter's shoulder, preparing to move the kid.

“No! Well, not like that, but yeah, an emergency,” Peter raised his hands in front of his body, soothing Happy, “I need the case, please.”

Happy took a moment to consider it, but a quick “I’ll explain later,” from Peter got Happy to move. Peter followed after him, where Happy ducked behind one of the plant pots decorating the background. He pulled out the case, sheepishly, “I kept it close, as a precaution,” his lips quirked up in an embarrassed smile as he handed over the case.

“Don’t worry big guy,” Peter grinned although was a bit annoyed that the suit hadn’t been properly put away, “I got it from here.” Peter waved, before turning and running through the crowd, bumping into some with quick apologies.

He rushed across the floor, running into the elevator as the doors slowly closed. Peter smiled at the other people who were going up. “Oh,” one of the ladies looked between her friend and Peter, “this is the private elevator, sir,” she gestured around as her friend nodded, “the public one is just around the corner.”

“I know,” Peter grinned, fumbling with the case. He placed it on the floor, in between his legs, “I’m Peter,” he thrusted out a hand at the smaller lady. She wore an unfashionable woollen hat in a mustard yellow, a dark green knitted jumper and some well worn and loved jeans. Her thick, dark hair fell to just below her shoulders in loose and messy curls, and she clasped an old laptop close to her chest. She grinned at Peter, shifting her laptop to one hand as shook Peter’s outstretched one. “Darcy,” she greeted, “and this is Jane,” she gestured next to her.

‘Jane’ looked Peter up and down, before sighing, “Foster. Jane Foster,” she offered her own hand, which Peter gladly took. She wore an old, checkered flannel top under an aged leather jacket. She also wore jeans, although more fitted. Her blonde hair was straight, longer than Darcy’s yet styled similarly. “And what are you here for, Peter?”

“I live here,” he stated simply, grinning at the women. They seemed friendly, although Peter preferred Darcy. She seemed more bubbly and welcoming.

“No way,” Darcy breathed, eyes wide as her smile grew, “no freaking way.”

“Yeah,” Peter smiled, “Tony took me in.”

“So are you an orphan? A homeless kid he found on the street? Awesome!” Darcy exclaimed, ignoring Jane’s annoyed “Darcy!”.

“Well, not really,” Peter blushed, “he didn’t find me on the street, but yeah, I’m an orphan.” He shrugged, eyes turning to the counter of floors, rapidly increasing.

“Oh,” both Darcy and Jane exclaimed, before Jane continued, “Sorry Peter, Darcy didn’t mean to-”

“No,” Peter cut across, waving a hand at them, “it’s fine.” He didn’t look over at them again, and the moment the doors opened, Peter picked up his case and started to leave.

Most of the Avengers were in the common room, and as the doors opened, Thor opened his arms wide, exclaiming “Jane!” excitedly as he made his way around the sofa. Steve was sat next to Bucky, both waving at Darcy and Peter, Sam getting up to round the sofa also. He gravitated towards Darcy, and Peter saw a knowing glint in Steve’s eyes. Natasha raised her beer, not bothering to move from where she was sat, legs over Clints. Peter sent a small smile towards everyone, a quiet “bye,” to the ladies as he left, going towards the labs he knew Tony would be in.

As he rushed in, Tony was already waiting for him, fiddling with a spare part for Dummy, who clattered happily as Peter entered. Tony looked up, and seeing Peter, motioned for him to come and place the case on the workbench in front of him. Peter slid up next to him, unlocking the case as he placed it on top.

“Right, tracker,” Tony mused, pulling the suit from the case. “Go and lock the door, Peter,” he mumbled, already pulling a lamp over the top of the suit, “don’t want anyone seeing this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a LIKE to make my heart flutter, and a COMMENT on what you think should be included! 
> 
> tumblr- justcallmefloss Here I post imagines and do requests, so whilst you wait for the next chapter, come on other and check this out! Don't be shy, send a message, I absolutely love getting to know the people who read my drabbles!
> 
> ~Floss


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO SO SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT! I had a brain fart and couldn't think of how to end the chapter, so sorry if it seems a bit odd. BUT the good news is, I have the beginning of next chapter already in the works! woo! I hope that I don't disappear as long next time

Peter really needed to find a skateboarding shop, or at least a place which sold reliable ones. “Excuse me!” He shouted, shouldering through the crowd. It had taken Tony no more than five minutes to find the tracker, extract it and give it to Peter. It had taken him another ten minutes to do a thorough search and ensure that there wasn’t any more on it. Luckily, there was just the one. It was minuscule, no wonder Peter hadn’t seen it when it was first planted on him. It was found in between the finger, must’ve been when Sam had shaken his hand. Tony held in under the lamp by some tweezers, turning it over and over. He ran a quick scan on it to get the technology used in it. It hadn’t been designed by him, instead, by Hank Pym, which had royally pissed of Tony. They had debated destroying it, Peter not understanding why it needed to be active. Tony explained that if they destroyed it, the last known location would be the Tower, in Stark's lab, just after Peter had rushed in. He knew Hank’s technology, not as advanced as his own, but nothing to be scoffed at. He knew that Hank would be able to track its last steps over the previous couple of hours, but nothing longer than that, as the tracker was experimental. So, as Tony kept emphasising, they had to work fast.

When the two exited the lab, the tracker in a safe container in Peter’s back pocket, Tony had gone over to the crowd of people, explaining that “Peter’s going out to meet his friends, aren’t you Petey?” in which Peter had nodded a bit too enthusiastically. Before he could get in the elevator, Darcy came over.

“Look, Peter,” she started, voice quiet as for no one else to listen in, “I’m sorry about what I said before, I didn’t know…” she paused, looking apologetic, “you alright?”

Peter nodded again, squeaked out a “yeah, thank you,” before giving a tense smile and rushing away from her, and into the elevator.

As he ran through the crowd, he moaned to himself about the large number of tourists littering the streets. Many had cameras pointed towards the Tower, excitedly taking picture after picture of the magnificent building. Peter had to admit, it was a piece of art, but he didn’t believe it warranted the amount of pictures these people were taking. Some kids were dressed up in Avengers costumes, posing for their parents who laughed gleefully at the comedic aspect of the photos. Rolling his eyes, Peter pushed past, ignoring the grumbled disapprovals, but this was urgent. It wasn’t something small, this was his whole life on the line.

Sighing at the thickening crowd, Peter darted down a side street, pushing past the overflowing dumpsters and the nests of rats, jumping the chain fences with ease as he crisscrossed across the city. If he needed to confuse Hank Pym, he would run circles. He darted through different streets before coming back out onto the main street leading away from the Tower. He now had a destination in mind. As he made his way across the city, Peter let himself escape into his mind.

Other the previous couple of months, his world has flipped upside down. He used to be a poor kid, getting by but not comfortable, always putting family first. He attended school, even if he was ill, knowing that it was a luxury to be in this school. May hadn’t let him drop out after Ben’s death, saying that Ben had worked hard to give Peter the best education possible. So even when he felt like curling up and doing nothing, Peter went. And then there was the spider bite. A freak accident on a school trip. Peter got lost, deciding to look deeper into the Oscorp business. But that spider bite, it was both a blessing and a curse. A blessing due to the fact it allowed him to help others who were in need, allowed him to do things he never dreamed of, allowed him to be a beacon of hope. But a curse as it took away May, his last living relative. It forced him to rely on others when, really, Peter had hoped to be independent. It had changed his life in both positive and negative ways.

“Watch it, kid!” Someone shouted as Peter ran past, shoulders knocking. Peter ignored him, running alongside the river. Okay, a quite place, need a quiet place. Slowing down, Peter looked around him, curling his arms around his chest against the bitter, cold winds. It was never quite down here, people were always coming and going, but Peter didn’t just want to throw it in, that’ll look weird. So he wandered down slowly, looking at the people near him. Tony had said the casing he put the chip in was waterproof and shouldn’t get destroyed in water, at least not straight away. And on the river, the water would flow and take the chip away, untraceable back to him.

Peter would prefer to wait for the sun to set, that way he could be hidden, yet he had no time and needed to get rid of the chip now. So when he came across a mainly deserted place, Peter plucked the device from his pocket, and hurled it into the river, watching as it bobbed around for a moment, swirling in the currents before being taken away, out of sight. He rocked up on his toes, rolling back onto his heels, then back on his toes as he watched the tracker disappeared under the water before coming back up a few feet later. It sailed down, knocking back and forth through different currents. He let himself a small victory smile. That should confuse Pym enough to keep him off their trail.

Wandering his way back to the Tower, he took out his phone, scrolling through social media. Already, pictures of the Avengers (plus Spider-Man) had appeared with the usually strew of comments: complaints about violence, tearful rescue stories, lusting after the tight suits, complaints that the suits weren’t tight enough. None really stood out to Peter, the pictures weren’t really high enough quality and were from far away. There was a few from up close, taken by people trapped inside buildings, and there was quite a badass shot of Peter swinging by which Peter may make his phone background, but the others were quite ordinary. It was still quite shocking to think that these photos were taken mere hours ago, yet life had already returned to normal.

Sliding a text to Ned, Peter invited him to a small park he wasn’t far from. He knew they did good pretzels here, it was the place Uncle Ben had taught him how to tie his laces. It was a pretty enough place, a small pond, a play area, a few trees and a wooden hut of shops in the centre. It wasn’t in the best place of the city either, but it was void of tourists, which Peter liked.

Ten minutes later, Ned came strolling over to where Peter had seated himself, pretzel in hand. “Hey” Ned greeted, coming to sit next to Peter. He spied over, seeing Peter playing a game of Tetris, and doing somewhat alright. “Put that piece there,” he suggested, pointing out a spare space.

“Thanks,” Peter mumbled around a mouthful of pretzel. For a few minutes, the two sat in silence, sharing the pretzel and playing Tetris. When the end game screen game up, both let out an annoyed huff before Peter pocketed his phone again. He had sent Tony a text before, saying he was actually going to be out with his friends and not to worry too much.

He stretched his back, hearing it make a satisfying pop, which made Ned look disgusted at him, to which Peter smiled. “So,” Peter unfolded himself from the bench, stretching his legs after having them crossed for so long, “where you wanna go?”

“You asking me?” Ned stood also, shoving his hands in his hoodie's pockets from the harsh winds which were whipping through the streets. “You said we should meet up!”

“Well, what do you want to do?”

“I don’t know, what do you want to do?”

“I don’t know,” Peter groaned, his head lolled back. “How about we just walk, yeah? See where we go?”

“‘Kay,” Ned shrugged, and the two started to walk, side by side. “You don’t need to be whisked off anywhere by your security guards?”

“Ned,” Peter glared at him, pulling his sweatshirt tight. The arms were slightly too long, allowing Peter to retreat his hands inside, where it was warmer. Ned raised his eyebrows, causing Peter to roll his eyes. “No I don’t,” he mumbled, “earlier was because of that fight, Tony wanted me back somewhere safe, ‘tis all,” Peter shrugged, watching Ned's reaction to his lie.

“Safe is the Tower? Which has a giant ‘A’ on the side?” Ned looked confused, “wouldn’t that be, like, the least safe place?”

“Well, you know, money can buy you pretty good security I guess,” looking around, Peter willed the conversation to change, “anyway, enough about that, how’s your mom?”

That changed the conversation, allowing Peter to be the friend Ned needed right now.  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To say that Ned’s family were happy to see him would be an understatement. Ecstatic was closer but still fell short. Truth be told, words failed to sum up how they reacted. As soon he had walked through the door, he had been bombarded with hugs, the twins wrapping themselves around his legs, Ned’s mother crying on Peter’s shoulder whilst Ned’s dad patted him fondly on the shoulder. He hadn’t stayed long, just had a drink and a cookie before he started making his way back to the Tower. It would take him a good 20 minutes to walk there, but he didn’t want the car to cruise up and whisk him away.

“See ya tomorrow!” Ned waved, leaning out the window as he shouted at Peter who was currently standing on the street below. The clouds had started to thicken and darken, and the winds were swirling around with new life. With a wave back to Ned, Peter turned and shuffled down the streets. The crowds were somewhat less around here, but no more pleasant.

“Excuse me,” Peter manoeuvred around a large group, standing still in the middle of the sidewalk. They seemed to be having quite a heated conversation, somebody having slept with “my sister, you dick!”, but Peter didn’t want to get involved, not right now. Anyway, nobody seemed to be actually hitting anyone, all the damage was verbal. The worse thing to get hurt would probably be someone's ego, maybe their pride.

His phone chimed in his pocket, Peter not paying it much attention as he pulled it out of his pocket.

“Heyo?” Peter greeted, squeezing between a family who were walking in a large group, taking up the entire space to walk in. They grumbled annoyingly after him.

 _“Peter!”_ A familiar voice replied.

“Pepper?” Peter startled, ducking around the corner, “uhg, I mean, Ms Potts!”

 _“Peppers fine,”_ she laughed, _“no need to be formal, I’ve told you this. Anyway, I just wanted to know if you wanted dinner? Tony’s ordering some pizza.”_

“Oh! Uh, yeah, I’m on my way back,” rushing across the street, the flashing green light of the walkway warning him to be quick, Peter picked up the pace. Truth be told, he was hungry. He found that now, he needed to eat more and that after losing his appetite for so long, Peter needed to eat up, put on some weight. “Give me 20 minutes!”

 _“20 minutes? Where are you?”_ Pepper sounded both shocked and concerned, “do you want us to send out a car? The weather is getting pretty gloomy.”

“No! No need to worry, just out with friends!” Peter laughed, shouldering his way through the crowd. He was making his way through the city at rush hour, it wasn’t going to be easy or quick. A car would probably take longer to get out here than it was going to take Peter to walk back.

Pepper sighed, and Peter could hear her moving around. In the background, Peter heard the laughter of the group, hear Thor spinning out another story. _“Fine,”_ she levelled, _“but call me if you want us to pick you up!”_

“Don’t worry Pepper,” Peter smiled, “I will, okay? Now I need to go.”

_“Bye Peter.”_

“See you soon!” Peter clicked off the phone before cursing, redialling the phone. Nearly instantly, Pepper picked up.

_“Peter?”_

“Can I have a double pepperoni, large?”

Pepper laughed, _“yeah, sure, sorry, I forgot.”_

“No worries,” Peter laughed, “see ya!” Once again, he hung up, sliding his phone in his pocket as he made his way down the streets. A few rain drops started falling, and as if a switch being clicked, umbrellas popped open around him. It wasn’t heavy, not yet anyway, yet people didn’t want to risk it. Peter huffed, tugging his shirt closer as if building a guard against the weather. He quickened his steps, bright umbrellas passing by over head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Changed my URL on tumblr too- itspenisparker so come and check me out.
> 
> Real talk- the only way I remained motivated to do this was through the comments and kudos' I was receiving, so thank you very much to everyone who left one of those <3 Thank you all for reading, see you sooner than last time


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello out there!  
> I am back with another chapter in what feels like years! How are all of you? Did I miss anything exciting? I'm sorry if I did :((  
> I won't give a lame, half-assed attempt at an excuse because there isn't one, I was just lazy. Truth be told, I've had this chapter half written for months, and finally got around to finishing it off!  
> After this, the story will pick up pace a bit, get a bit more exciting, because I'm not giving up on this story*gasp*

Peter ran his hand through damp, curling hair, the elevator doors sliding open with a hiss. Instantly, Peter was greeted by the aroma of hot cheese mingling with tomato paste. Taking in a deep breath, he let his nose follow the scent, carrying him into the main living area. During the time he had gone, the place had been moved around, the sofas pushed up against the wall under the TV, pop up tables being dragged in to fill the space. They were covered in large amounts of pizza boxes, all varying in sizes and from different vendors, and Peter could see a post-it-note with his name scribbled on on top of one of the boxes. The rest had already been half eaten, and with a quick glance, he saw that Clint had at least one slice from each pizza. Natasha was eating half of them, the two sharing their plates of food as they had a conversation about who knows what. Probably about the best way to kill someone silently. Or Mario Kart. Who knows. 

Tony saw him, and with a quick wave, made his way other. Rhodey had been half way through a sentence, but rolled his eyes with an annoyed groan when Tony walked off without an explanation, instead turning to Pepper to continue his tale.

“Petey!” Tony sing-songed, placing his paper plate on top of some ridiculously expensive piece of furniture, “have a nice walk?”

“Uh,” with a quick glance, Peter was glad to see no attention was brought to him, “yeah, good, thanks.” He nodded, giving Tony an awkward, overly obvious wink as if to confirm it was successful. Tony grinned, obviously forced as he raised his eyebrows a couple of times, as if prompting Peter to continue, “we had a good time? Walked by the river?” Peter seemed confused, frowning at Tony. Did he really want him to go into detail, here? In front of everyone?

“Good good,” Tony rolled up onto his toes, shoving his hands in his pockets. He still wore expensive suits, even around the Tower, although he needed to impress nobody. He could probably wear ‘Hello Kitty’ pyjamas and it would become a fashion trend. “Did you do anything interesting?”

“No, uh, not really? Ate a pretzel, played Tetris,” Peter cocked his head to the side, as if a confused puppy, but his answer seemed to please Tony, who nodded, his smile becoming more relaxed. 

“Anything weird happen?” Tony pushed on, his voice becoming more serious. Peter startled at the sudden change, Tony’s eyes becoming hard and business like. 

He stammered over his words for a moment, “what?” he ended up squeaking, shrinking in on himself. Tony looked serious, as if life or death.

“Oh, you know,” Tony used a hand to speak, as if not questioning a teenager who had just thrown away a tracker, “anyone follow you? Take pictures?”

“Tony,” a stern voice stopped the billionaire from continuing, “leave the kid alone.” Tony stepped to the side, turning to the person who had sneaked up behind him. Steve stood, arms crossed over his chest, eyebrows drawn down in a deep frown. His eyes remained cold, obviously not impressed.

“I was just asking how he was,” Tony thought back, chest pumping out to seek dominance. The tension between the two was still thick, and soured the mood of the room in an instant. At least they weren’t punching each other. Yet.

“Asking him if people were following him?” Steve raised both his eyebrows quizzically, showing his doubt of Tony’s intentions. Peter was still a bit weary of the Captain, sometimes the phantom pain of being punched by a super soldier would wake him in the middle of the night, a pained scream trapped in his throat. 

“He’ll start getting people following him, he lives in the Tower now, people have seen him around member of the Avengers team, just want to make sure that he wasn’t being chased by the paparazzi.”

Steve rolled his eyes but visible relaxed a fraction. Over his ridiculously wide shoulders, Peter saw Bucky and Sam lurking. Sam was openly watching them, eyes staring back the teenager. The were soft though, offering sympathy for being trapped in the middle of this glare off. Peter gave him a small smile, informing him that he was alright here. Sam nodded back, taking a step backwards and turning towards the other super soldier. Bucky was less obvious, instead looking down on his phone as if it had his attention, although a trained eye (someone who wasn’t Peter) would be able to see the small twitch of his lips, showing his concentration elsewhere. His head was tilted towards Steve, listening to them all and probably knowing much more than Peter would like. His feet were turned towards an exit, his body towards another, and his left arm tensed and untensed a few times. He was preparing for an argument.

“I hope you don’t mind,” Peter spoke meekly, leaning away from the two men standing in front of him, who were still staring each other down, “but I’m hungry and Clint is eyeing up my pizza.” Darting behind the super soldier, Peter jumped down to his food, shielding it from the archer assassin. Throwing it open, his stomach clenched with anticipation of the greasy food laid out in front of him. He’d forgotten just how hungry he was, after the big fight and the running around, a pretzel wouldn’t really fill him. Shoving a slice into his mouth, Peter bit back a moan, eyes fluttering closed as he savoured the flavours rolling around on his tongue. He never got tired of pizza, even if he did get fired from his pizza delivery job. 

\----------

After he had demolished his pizza and had found some ice cream, Peter retreated back to his room. His school bag had been brought up here after being discarded in the back of the car. With legs curled underneath him, Peter's eyes were scanning over pages from his books, although none of the information was actually being registered. His mind just kept returning to the fight, and although he wasn’t in the thick of it, he still did pretty gosh dang good. None of the bots had gotten past him, he made witty small talk with Sam, he hadn’t got badly injured. All was good. He was actually a part of the Avengers, even if not officially, but people had already linked him with them.

Outside, rain drops plummeted down to the ground below, puddles becoming larger. The rain had become heavier in recent moments, and the streets below were only occupied by umbrellas, portraying a fake rainbow. Although the weather was terrible and everyone grumbled about it, Peter enjoyed it. It gave a sense of temporary isolation, and although Peter used to fear being alone with his thoughts, with his fears and anxieties, he was starting to like it, starting to embrace it in some form. It allowed him some time to be vulnerable without the fear of being hurt, and he’d much rather have a cry in private than when he was off fighting the thing which decided it wanted to destroy somewhere. 

The realisation that someone had been attempting to track him had shaken Peter up, and now that he wasn’t with Ned and wasn’t a part of Clint’s smalltalk, he let that thought creep up and consume him. He hadn’t been careful enough. When he was a ‘friendly, neighbourhood Spider-Man’, it hadn’t been too bad. Obviously people had been curious as to who he was, but no one actually tried to find out, not past the “Hey, what’s your name, kid?”. He’d been excited to be an Avenger, to have kids look up to him, screaming his name in happiness. He hadn’t expected the media attention, which was now filling his phones screen, illuminating his sullen features, books discarded and thrown to the side in favour of the internet. He wasn’t taking in any of his school work anyway, what’s the point in pretending? Article upon article were creteaking his (few) mistakes, brushing over his triumphs to instead point out every flaw possible. The way he swung so close to a civilian, how he let a bot fly past him and had to backtrack his way, why he had a small wobble. All of it caught on camera by the civilians trapped inside. You’d think they’d be thankful to be saved, but instead they sold their stories to lousy newspapers and bloggers, cashing in as much as they could and getting five minutes of fame.

A small knock on the door pulled Peter out of his spiral, and he only had a moment of notice before his door was being opened. Pepper popped her head around, a relaxed smile on her face. “Hey Peter,” she let herself in, pyjamas and slippers instead of heels and suits. 

“Hey,” moving his legs from the bed, he invited Pepper to come further in his room, and she took the invitation gladly. She sat next to him on his overly plump bed, her body looking tired and worn out. Her hair was messy, pulled back in a loose low ponytail, some pieces falling from its elastic to frame her face, highlighting the heavy bags under her eyes and chapped, bitten lips. Up close, she reminded Peter of May. The two women didn’t look anything alike, but it’s the kindness and golden heart which tied the two together. A pang of sadness tugged at Peter’s heart, familiar these days as he once again realises what he has loss. But then, he is also reminded what he has gained. In a matter of weeks, Peter had gone from being another kid on the street to a superhero living in a penthouse above the city. He had lost his family, yet gained another. No one could replace May, or Ben, but Peter didn’t want them too, instead he had a shoulder to cry on and helping hands to show him the way. He had lost his childhood but gained a mentor, gained some form of freedom that wealth offers, doesn’t have to worry about the price of his meals or want for clothes.

“How’re you feeling?” Her voice was soft but not patrinishing. She wasn’t asking out of need, but because she wanted to know. Pepper and Peter hadn’t spent as much time together as he had with Tony, but they were getting to know each other pretty well. Under the hard shell that is her professional persona, Pepper was a Star Wars loving, cookie making dork. Exactly the time of woman Tony needed, someone down to earth.

“‘m feeling alright,” Peter wrung his hands in the bedsheets, eyes becoming unfocused as he felt everything all over again in a sudden burst. It’s true that he was feeling better than he initially had, but then again, he wasn’t bouncing back like some people would. Although he loved his new lifestyle, he felt like he was sinking, and it was only by sheer willpower that he hadn’t drowned. He still counted his coins, looked for the cheapest deal, listened out for that familiar voice. “Doing better than I was.”

“That’s not hard,” Pepper said, a hint of a joke in her tone. The two fell silent for a beat, and it wasn’t comfortable, but wasn’t awkward either. They were becoming friends, one step at a time. “I was thinking,” she started again, but paused to take in a steadying breath, “how do you feel about going to a therapist?”

“What?” Peter was taken aback by the question, eyes snapping to look at Peppers profile. She was looking forward, at the smiling photographs of his parents, worn with age. “You want me to go to a therapist?” She frowned for a moment before her features relaxed, and easily her professional self took over.

“Well, no,” Pepper sighed, “not yet anyway, but it’s something I think you should consider.” Finally, she turned to look at him, eyes weeping with sympathy, “you have a lot going on and we don’t want you to break under pressure.”

“We?” Peter sounded hurt. They had discussed this behind his back. “Who’s we?”

“Me, Sam and Nat. It was actually Sam who came up with the idea. He thinks it’ll be a good idea. He brought the idea up a couple days ago, I didn’t agree to begin with but Natasha also thought it would be good for you.”

Peter felt torn. The team obviously cared for him and wanted to ensure his health, but they also talked about him behind his back. What else did they discuss? Who else was talking? Did everyone talk about him? They hardly spoke to him, but they didn’t care speaking about him!

“It’s normal around here actually,” obviously Pepper had caught on on his inner torment, “most of the team are on some form of therapy. Obviously they talk about Avengers stuff, superhero things you and I wouldn’t understand, but nobody would say anything if you go.”

“I’ll…” Peter didn’t know what to say. His emotions were wild, he felt anger for them talking about him, sadness that he was in this situation, joy that they were thinking of him and confusion as to why now, “I’ll think about it.”

Pepper seemed to relax a fraction, not fully, her shoulders still tense and smile not reaching her eyes, but at least she looked like some weight had been taken off of her shoulders. “Thank you Peter,” she leant over, gave him a one armed hug, stiff and awkward but the thought was there. She got up, brushing down her coffee stained joggers and tucking the stray hairs behind her ears. With a tight lipped smile, she left the room, a quite “goodnight” floating through as the door clicked closed behind her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> URL change on tumblr- itspenisparker  
> How to get me to write more? THREATEN ME WITH YOUR COMMENTS! Seriously, the more you guys comment, the less likely I am to click "next episode" on Netflix. So do your things honey, and you'll have upset, very-much-a-crier Spider-Man swinging across your screen sooner than you think!  
> Can't wait until then? Check out my "Spider-Kid and Iron Dad" collection, for light hearted (sometimes not) little snippets


	13. Chapter 13

Thwip. Another web slung across New York, adding to the countless others. Thwip. Oh look, another web. How original. 

Peter was in the middle of a chase, and unlucky for him, he was the one running. It was another day as an Avenger, his third run out with the entire team, when suddenly the bad guy turned his attention to Peter and quickly a chase started. This guy was dangerous, had already electrocuted Bucky so his arm malfunction, knocked out Clint's hearing aids so he was basically deaf and had gone one on one with Thor and somehow survived. He called himself the Green Goblin, and dressed to match his name. Green and purple clashed, and a cheap halloween mask kept his identity hidden, although they don’t know why, because the Avengers already knew it was Osborn. The guy had gone mad a few weeks back, this wasn’t his first attack, but he had become more prepared since last time.

Thwip. Peter was trying to go as fast as he could, dodging electric blasts as well. Green Goblin was cackling maniacally behind him, saying some form of gibberish Peter couldn’t make out over the rush of air as he swung up higher. 

“Left!” Tony sounded frantic over the comms, not in the sky due to an electrical surge leaving his suit fizzling. This guy knew how to take down the team, that’s for sure. “Away from pedestrians!” He was trying to give directions from the ground, trailing behind the chase by a fair few blocks.

Peter landed on a roof, sprinting over before diving down again, sticking to the side and holding his breath. Green Goblin flew over him, the “goblin glider” whirring to keep up it’s frantic speed. Crawling to the side, Spider-Man leapt off the building, webbing away to another building. He was heading for the sea, away from the heart of Brooklyn. Maybe it was a terrible idea going to a place where he had no cover, but it was important to keep the people safe. The team were already making their way down (Bucky was still mumbling about the arm), but he had no air support, and although the team were quick, no one could keep up with this chase.

A cackle to his left was his only warning before a gas canister was thrown at him, not hitting him directly, but exploding on the building to his right. The green gas instantly obscured his vision and strangled his breath, and Peter had no choice but to drop from his web and create a new one.

Coughing and blinded, Peter fell, and head spinning from the chemicals, he continued to fall, that magical “thwip” not coming as he tumbled to the floor. He hit the ground, hard, but still he was being chased. Now winded on top of everything, Peter rolled to the side in time, bleary eyes just about managing to watch as that figure landed next to him. He tried to sit up, but pain from about everywhere told him to STOP straight away, so he stayed, petrified and paralyzed.

“So,” Green Goblin sneered, standing above him, “our game of tag has come to an end.” He ducked down, kneeling on Peters chest, who at this point, couldn’t breath and was stating to pass out. “Fair to say,” Osborne pulled up the mask, revealing sickly pale skin, bulging eyes and sharpened teeth. The mask was a blessing. “I won,” he grinned, teeth looking like blades as his lips peeled back. His skin looked oily, reflecting the dull light of the night, and his teeth gleamed although the were rooting, black at the gums. 

Peter cried out, wishing there was someone there, anyone, just please save him. “Now hush, there’s no need for that noise Petey,” Goblin grinned, cackling when he saw the fear amplify in Peters expression, even through the mask. “Uh huh, I know who you are!” He looked triumphant, throwing his head back as he laughed, “there’s no need for that stupid mask now,” and with claw like fingers, Osborne peeled away Peter’s mask. It was caked in blood, his own blood, and finally, Peter could try and get some fresh air. He gulped greadly, his lungs only taking in half the amount needed, but god, he wasn’t complaining. 

Goblin grabbed Peters face, forcing his mouth closed as he stared down. “You’ll won’t need that anyway,” he leant in close, nose brushing against Peter’s. “Let’s get this done, shall we? Before they realise that their brat is down, hmm?” Lifting his fist high, Osborne switched on his gauntlet and sparks illuminated his profile. His eyes turned manic, never staying still as his grin grew wider and wider, “night night Petey.” 

Just as the fist came towards his face, Peter swung up his arm, screaming in pain of a broken bone, yet managing to grab Osbourne's arm above the gauntlet, which was still buzzing with sparks. Blinking back tears, Peter turned Goblins arm and shoved his hand into his own face, and the crackling of electricity consumed Osbornes pained screams. It only took seconds, but Osborne fell unconscious, face sizzling and burnt. Peter let go of his arm and pushed the man off of him, turning away from the horrific scene. His face was smoking, and Peter gagged, throat burning with bile.

Laying on the ground, adrenaline leaving his system, Peter let out a pained sob, echoed by sirens in the distance. Like the black sky above, Peter dissolved into darkness, his own heartbeat the only thing he could hear.

\----------------------------

He wasn’t sure how long he was out, but when he came back around, he was cold. Incredibly cold. Peter shivered and gasped, body aching. Eyes still closed, Peter focused on breathing, in, out, in, out, but he was struggling to make his body listen to him. He flexed his fingers, moved his hands and stretched his arms, but quickly Peter stopped his movements. His right arm had been broken and was now throbbing. Peter hissed as fresh tears streamed down his cheeks. He would’ve screamed or cursed, but his chest was also throbbing, but the worst pain was in the back of his head. A constant agony. 

Laying there, not daring to move, Peter became aware of the smell of burnt flesh, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Osborne, staring blankly at him, mouth open in frozen agony. Peter screamed, and attempted to scramble away, but couldn’t go far before he passed out again.

\-------------------------------------

Warm. He was warm now. He had been cold, but now he wasn’t. And he had been laying on concrete ground, but now had material under his body. It had also been dark when he was on the very cold concrete, but now light pushed into his sensitive eyelids.

He had been alone before, but the hushed voices near him suggested he wasn’t anymore.

“May?” He croaked out, hardly making a noise, but still the voices stopped. Aunt May approached him from his left, a comforting presence in this unfamiliar place. But she didn’t reach out for him. Just stood there. Peter frowned heavily before blinking against the light. It took him a few moments to get adjusted to the lighting of the room, but when he managed to focus on May, Peter realised it wasn’t May standing there, but Tony.

“Hey,” Tony whispered, bottom lip shaking and eyes wet. He looked exhausted, shoulders slumped forward and hair a greasy mess. He looked horrible.

“What-” Peter started but his dry throat led to a coughing fit. Everything exploded into white hot pain and Peter momentarillary passed out, but came back quickly. Tony looked panicked above him, hands fussing in the air but not daring to touch the broken teenager. Peter cried out, hurt that he couldn’t get the comfort. 

“Petey, shh, please-” Tony choked out, tears running smoothly down his aged cheeks. A mouth usually turned up in a knowing smirk was drawn down, lip quivering and bitten. Peter blinked back tears of his own, vision blurry, making Tony’s outline wobble for a moment. 

“Please,” Peter whispered. He didn’t know what for, but still, the word was important. It sounded weak, childlike and nothing like a superhero that he actually was, but right now, all Peter wanted was a loving hand, “please.”

“I know kid,” a gentle hand pressed against bruised cheek, but Peter didn’t care, just leant into the palm as he bit back a hiss. He kept his eyes on Tony, who wouldn’t meet his eyes, instead looking slightly to the side. He obviously felt guilt.

The two of them stayed like that for a minute, Peter too scared to move. Although he was tapped up to an IV, which was probably pumping him full of drugs, and also had a better healing factor than a normal human, Peter still felt a slight ache over his body. It was only when Bruce Banner walked in that Tony and Peter moved.

“Peter,” Bruce started with a strained smile. Tony shifted awkwardly to his side. “It’s good you're awake, and naturally as well.” He walked over and looked at the chart flashing on the screen above Peter’s head. He hummed for a moment, adjusting his glasses. His eyebrows were drawn down, angry and tense, his jaw set. “You have a few broken bones and a serious concussion, but you’ll survive.” Again, Bruce moved to the end of the bed and sighed, pinching the top of his nose, muttering to himself before starting again. “Your upper right arm is broken, as well as your wrist. Collarbone, right is broken, and you have a fracture at the back left of your skull. One broken rib on your right side, two small fractured on your left. Your left leg has a large gash running from your inner thigh down to your knee, but that is already starting to heal itself, although relatively slowly considering what’s running through your blood.”

Peter tried to take it in, but his brain was still a bit cloudy. Tony nodded though, hand grabbing the rail of the bed by Peter’s head. Bruce leveled Tony with a look, did another, brief breathing exercise before starting again, “your on full bed rest for a week, and then small amount out for another week, and then we’ll see how you go from there.”

Peter smiled weakly, not wanting to move his head. Now Bruce had mentioned the injuries, Peter could feel them burning, hot like a small flame, not enough to take all the attention, but there nonetheless. Bruce smiled back, before turning to Tony. He jerked his head to the side, a motion to go outside, before leaving the room. 

Tony turned to Peter, “look, kid,” he started, standing in easy eye sight, “I’m sorry but they all know who you are.” Panic took over Peter momentarily, but it made sense. Bruce Banner coming in and calling him Peter, although never having met him. The fact he was lying here, in a hospital bed, in a hospital gown. How angry Bruce seemed at Tony. (Although having never met Bruce before, Peter looked up to him. His scientific breakthroughs were incredible!) “That means that I have to go to talk to them and explain everything, okay? I don’t know how long that’ll take, but Pepper will be with you ‘till I come back.”

Peter reached up with his left hand and grabbed Tony by the front of his shirt. He knew what this meant. The team wouldn’t like it that Tony had a minor on the team, a teenager he had introduced to them but hadn’t fully told them who he was, and they’ll all be angry. Really angry. “Tony- no!” Peter felt more tears coming, his throat raw with a mix of emotion and physical pain. 

“Kid,” Tony ducked his head, hand coming over to grasp Peters grip on his shirt, “it’ll be fine,” he looked up again and smiled, not reaching his eyes which were filled with fresh tears. Tony pulled Peter’s hand away from his shirt, lifted it to his mouth and lay a gentle kiss on bruised knuckles. He then quickly made his exit from the room, only pausing to allow Pepper to enter. Peter hadn’t realised that he was crying again until a broken sob ripped through the quiet room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment how you think the Avengers will react!


	14. IMPORTANT

THIS STORY NOW HAS A CO-AUTHOR

Quickly, I had a comment on my now deleted announcement, and this story now has a co-author. marvelous-reader is being a star and is working on this story. They'll be writing the majority of the story, but don't worry, we're working together (hence "co-author") to make sure that the story stays true to the original. I will be stepping back a bit and let them do most of it, but I'll be doing tweaks as well as giving and working on ideas.

At the top/bottom of the chapter, there will be a note saying either 'Floss' or 'Kara' to show who was the main writer of the story  
Keep an eye on both accounts, as chapters could be posted by either of us!

Thanks for dealing with my crap once again!  
Forever,  
\- Floss


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! 
> 
> This is my first chapter for this and I’m super excited to get started! I just want to thank Floss for being so extremely helpful throughout the process of editing and everything she's helped me with, as well as letting me take part in this story. 
> 
> I hope you guys like this chapter! Please let me know what you thought in the comments! ^-^
> 
> -Kara

After leaving the hospital room, Tony saw Bruce standing a few feet away from the door, and it was evident that he was disappointed. Eyebrows drawn down sharply, jaw clenching. The way he had his hands tucked behind his back suggested anger, that he was hiding any traces of the big guy.

“What were you thinking?” Bruce spat, eyes still downcast “How could you bring him into all of this?”

Tony let out a sigh, coming to a stop a few feet away. What was he supposed to say? He knew that he messed up big time by involving Peter in the Germany fiasco all those months ago. He had been desperate at the time, trying to get the upper hand on the situation.

“Bruce, I had no choice. With everything happening-” Tony began but Bruce cut him off.

“No, Tony! You did have a choice!” Bruce all but yelled, holding his hands out.

Tony frowned, anger bubbling up in him. “Did I? Did I really?” He paused, took in Bruce's expression. He cut the scientist off before he could argue back, “Because the last thing I remember was you going off the grid after Sokovia. Where were you when things went downhill with the team and the Accords? Huh? You weren’t there during any of it, so don’t you stand here and lecture me about my decision making” he snapped. The two stood there, nostrils flaring.

Bruce looked at him for a moment before letting out a sigh and taking a metaphorical step back. He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes for a moment, clearly trying to calm himself down. Tony took a step back, a clear show of disarming, with the danger of Bruce getting too worked up and Hulking out loomed in the air and making the atmosphere more tense.

“You’re right...” Bruce spoke after a moment, looking back at Tony. His voice lost all the anger and venom hidden there before, “I wasn’t there and I don’t know what happened between you and Steve. But what I do know is that you brought a minor to Germany, to-to fight against the team. That’s not okay, Tony. And I know you know that.” Bruce looked conflicted, “I saw the footage when I got back, I saw the damage that happened at the airport, of the kid being hit by that giant man. If Peter didn’t have his powers…” pausing, Bruce shrugged, the possibility of Peter being dead didn’t need to be said.

Tony sighed, nodding slowly. Everything Bruce said was true. Just thinking back to that moment, seeing Peter getting thrown down the way he had… he still had nightmares about it.

“I know.”

Bruce looked at him for a moment before letting out a sigh, rubbing his forehead. They were both silent for a few moments.

“What are you going to tell the team?” Bruce muttered, voice just over a whisper.

Tony let out a tense laugh, lips pinched into a straight line. “They already know who the kid is. There’s no point in hiding it.”

“Maybe you can just explain why you-“

“You think I haven’t tried to explain things? I have!” Tony huffed, gesturing around at no one. “I apologised to the others, to Steve,but did any of them care? No! They blame me for everything that happened. And yes, I’ll admit it was a stupid decision on my part to sign the Accords. I know that now. I know I screwed up. But they just can’t seem to let it go. I’ve tried to forgive Steve for shoving his damn shield in the suit’s arc reactor.” Tony said, letting out a breathy laugh. “And you know what… for a minute… I actually thought he was going to kill me right there in Siberia.” He admitted.

Bruce’s eyes widened at that. He shook his head, looking at Tony with a serious look. “Tony… I didn’t know any of that.”

Tony just waved it off with another pinch of his lips. He had to blink a few times to get rid of the image of Steve above him, raising his shield above his head. The look of pure anger, rage and loss still stuck with Tony, and every time he looks over at Cap, he realises how much they could’ve lost that day.

“I honestly don’t care what the team has to say. They can say whatever they want about me bringing Peter to Germany and about me taking him in. What I care about right now is the kid in that hospital room.” He said in a serious tone, pointing to the hospital room door.

Bruce looked at him for a moment before sighing. “I’m going to watch his vitals for the next few hours. I think I’m going to set up an MRI to see how his head injury is doing, just to make sure that there isn’t any swelling going on. Other than that… he just needs rest and time to heal.”

“You don’t think there’s any swelling do you?” Tony asked, dread pooling in the pit of his stomach at the thought. Of course, it was a possibility, but the amount of fear that Tony had for this kid was outstanding.

“I don’t think so but with head injuries like his, you can never be too careful. If he starts having difficulty breathing or speaking, any confusion, or if he complains about his head bothering him just let me know. The MRI will show if anything’s going on. For now, it’s best to keep a close eye on him.” Bruce told him, pushing his glasses back up to the bridge of his nose.

Tony let out a sigh and nodded, rubbing his hands down his face. He turned away from Bruce and took a few steps towards the closed hospital room door, looking in through the glass. Pepper was sitting at Peter’s side, holding the kid’s hand as she spoke to him. Seeing Peter like this was killing him, and the talk with Bruce only twisted the knife deeper. He blamed himself for Peter getting hurt. The kid shouldn’t have even gone on the mission to take Osborn down. But he had no choice in the matter when the kid just showed up and had ran off after the bad guy, ignoring the calls for him to turn back, stay with the team, just wait Peter! And before Tony could do anything, the kid had been hit by that smoke bomb. A part of Tony was glad that Osborn was dead. He was a monster, a murderer and he had almost killed Peter. If that happened… Tony never would have forgiven himself.

“He’s going to be alright, Tony.” Bruce told him, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

“I hope you’re right.”

 

…

 

_Peter was running, feet barely touching the ground before he was stepping forward again. His legs didn’t feel like they were his, it felt like he was just there to watch, to panic, as Goblin just kept reaching out for him His heart hammered in his chest, in his ears in his throat. His senses were screaming at the back of his head, making it hard for him to concentrate fully on where he was going._

 

_He had nowhere to go._

 

_Nowhere to run._

 

_Nowhere to hide._

 

_“I’m coming for you, Spider-Man!” The Goblin yelled, evilly laughing at the end. His voice was high pitched, sounded off even in Peter’s head, but still just the thought of the Goblin made Peters stomach turn._

_The laugh sent chills down his spine as fear swelled in him. Peter turned down an empty street, jumping into the closest ally, his eyes darting around for anywhere that he could hide. His eyes landed on a dumpster. Without thinking twice, he ran forward and threw open the lid, scrambling inside. He landed on trash bags, feeling something wet underneath himself but he was too afraid to care at the moment. He was terrified._

_“Oh, Peeetyyy… where are you? Come out, come out little Spider!” He heard the Goblin call, his voice sounding closer._

_Peter froze when he heard the sound of the Goblin’s glider come into the ally he was hiding in. He held his breath as he strained his ears to listen for any noise._ _Something landed on top of the dumpster lid with a loud smash, sending vibrations that Peter felt in his bones, rattling his teeth. Peter clamped a shaking hand over his mouth, trying to keep himself from making a sound._

_“I know you’re around here somewhere…” The Goblin said from above him._

_His spider sense was telling him to run but he couldn’t. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t make a sound. His head was overrun with different thoughts, fears. It was a dumb move to hide in the dumpster because now, he was trapped, his chaser sitting right on top of him._

_“The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout…” The Goblin began to chant._

_Peter closed his eyes tightly, praying that he wouldn’t be found. He felt hot tears streaming down his cheeks and bit back a sob._

_“Down came the rain… and washed the spider out…”_

_P_ _eter hearing was drowned out by his own heartbeat, and he was struggling to stop to his body from shaking. He heard the sound of the Goblin jumping down from the dumpster, followed by the sound of a garbage can being knocked over to his right. If the Goblin opened the dumpster lid he’d find him._

_“Oh, Peeeeterrr! Come out, come out wherever you are!” The Goblin yelled, his voice echoing off of the ally walls dissoriating it further._

_The sound of the glider suddenly disappeared. Was he gone? Peter wanted to peek out into the ally but his body was paralysed with fear. It could be a trap. But what if it wasn’t and he was actually gone? It would give Peter a chance to run._

_Before he could do anything, the dumpster lid was thrown open, causing Peter to jump back into the corner. The Goblin had found him. He found him and he was going to kill him. The sound of the Goblin’s laughing rang through Peter’s ears as the monster lunged towards him._

 

_..._

 

A scream tore out from Peter’s lips as his eyes snapped open. Bright lights invaded his blurry vision, making a white hot pain erupt from all over his body. A loud beeping noise was going off all around him, making his head pound.

“-ey, hey. It’s alright! It’s alright, Peter. You’re okay.” He heard someone say, feeling a hand on his shoulder, another cupping his jaw.

Peter’s eyes darted around the room before they landed on a blurry figure.

“You’re alright, kiddo. You’re safe.” The person told him in a soothing tone.

He knew that voice. “T-T’ny?” Peter drawled, his voice hoarse and scratchy.

He felt a hand move to his head, fingers going through his curls soothingly. The panic in Peter began to diminish, being replaced by pain and exhaustion.

“Yeah, kiddo. I’m right here.” He heard Tony whisper soothingly.

Peter opened his eyes, blinking a few times to try to clear his vision. He was able to see a bit more clearly as he looked up, seeing Tony’s face. He looked tired with heavy bags under his eyes and his hair was disheveled, almost looking like he hasn’t slept in days. He was looking down at Peter with a look of concern. There was obvious tear marks staining his cheeks, and his lips look bitten and raw.

“How’re you feeling, kiddo?” Tony asked with a strained smile.

Peter closed his eyes when a sharp spike of pain went through his head, drawing out a whimper, feeling like it was pulsating down his neck and through his limbs.

“N-Not great.” He answered, almost a whisper, looking back up at Tony. It hurt too much to talk because of how dry his throat felt. The last thing he wanted right now was more pain.

“I know, bud,” Tony mumbled, voice cracking. He coughed, adjusting his throat before continuing: “Just get some more sleep. I’ll be right here when you wake up, okay?”

Peter would have nodded but it would just make his head hurt more. He attempted a smile, but it was more like a grimace. Closing his eyes, he laid there, feeling a hand running through his curls. It made him feel safe, knowing that someone was right next to him. For a moment, he let his pain-filled mind believe that it was May’s hand. it helped Peter not feel so alone like he had been feeling lately. His chest filled up with want for May, but Peter vowed to himself that he wouldn’t cry right now, no, he had already hurt Tony enough and now wasn’t the time.

Within a few moments, he began to feel himself drifting off, being lulled to sleep by the beeping monitors in the room. He was pulled into the darkness of slumber, his aching limbs dulling away, aware of nothing more.

 


	16. Chapter 16

At some point while Tony was sat with Peter, Bruce had come in and ordered him to leave to take care of basic human needs. Tony reluctantly left Peter with Bruce as he went back up to his floor of the tower. His surroundings seemed dull, and everyone else was passing him by as if he wasn’t there. The rest of the world was numb. Hours had passed since Peter woke up, yet Tony couldn’t get the panicked look on the kid’s face out of his head. It must’ve been a bad nightmare to wake the poor kid up like that.

“Jarvis, update on Peter?” He asked for the fifth time in ten minutes as he stepped out of the shower.

_“Master Parker is still asleep, sir.”_

Tony nodded to himself as he began to dry off with a towel, changing into an old t-shirt, jeans and shoes once he finished. He shuffled out of the bathroom and stepped out into the hallway. A dull pain radiated from his temples from his tiredness and he knew that it would lead to a migraine if he didn’t have a cup of coffee and a few painkillers.

 _“Sir, Captain Rogers requests your presence in the conference room.”_   

His steps faltered as an unsettling feeling washed over him. His chest tightened and fingers felt fuzzy, and suddenly the lights around him seemed that little bit to bright. Closing his eyes, Tony took in a few shaky breathes and lent against the wall. He had a feeling that the team wanted to chew him out about the situation with Peter. Tony let out a sigh before continuing his walk to the kitchen. The team’s little pep-talk could wait until he had some painkillers and at least a cup or two of coffee in him. As he entered the kitchen, Tony bee-lined towards the medicine cabinet. He took out the small bottle of Advil and took two pills out, popping them in his mouth and swallowing them with a swig of water. Tony went about making himself a pot of coffee, contemplating over what he was going to tell the team. His conversation with Bruce came to mind, only seeming to make the anger bubbling in him grow. Bruce didn’t get it. He didn’t understand how tense everyone was around each other now. And the situation with Peter was only going to make that even worse, _way_ worse. There wasn’t anything he could say to make things better.

Tony braced his hands on the countertop and bowed his head, letting out a sigh. He waited for several moments before the coffee pot was halfway filled before grabbing a mug from the side of the machine, filling it up. He put the pot back, leaning against the counter and took a long sip of coffee. He downed almost half of it before he picked the coffee pot up again, refilling his mug.

“Well, better get this over with.” He muttered to himself as he walked over to the elevator on the other side of the large room. “Avengers floor, J.” He announced when he stepped in the elevator, the A.I opening and closing the doors automatically.

It only took a few moments for him to reach the main Avenger’s level of the tower and as soon as the doors slid open, he was hit immediately with the tension in the air. The living room and kitchen were completely deserted, which meant that the whole team was probably in the conference room, already waiting for him. Wonderful. Pressing his lips together, he walked down the hallway towards the conference room, inwardly dredding whatever he’d have to face behind the door.

“J, let me know when Peter wakes up.” He lowly said as he stood outside of the conference room.

_“Of course, sir.”_

Taking in a deep breath, Tony opened the door and stepped in, bracing himself for what was to come. Walking in the room, he looked up and saw the whole team, except for Bruce, was sitting around the long table, all with mixed expressions on their faces.

“Tony.” Steve broke the silence of the room, “I’m guessing you already know why we’re all here?” The Captain sat at the head of the room, leaning heavily on his crossed arms resting against the glass table. He questioned, eyebrows raised in disappointment, looking at the billionaire with a studying gaze. It was almost challenging.

“Yeah, I’ve got an idea.” Tony simply said, sitting down at the end of the table next to Sam and Clint. He glared at Steve on instinct, leaning back in his chair in mock confidence and boredom.

Steve held the eye contact for a few tense seconds before dropping his gaze as he let out a sigh. “Well, let’s just begin with Peter.” He cut to the point, leaning back in his chair and looking straight at Tony. “We all just want to know why you never told us that he was Spider-Man,” he waited a moment, gesturing around the room at the assembled team. “We shouldn’t have had to find out this way.” 

Tony scoffed, his anger beginning to come out. “What, you saying this is my fault?”

“That’s not what I’m saying, Tony.” Steve forcefully said, his voice raising. He leant forward again, hands clenching into fist. “I don’t get why you didn’t tell us. Is it another one of your trust issues? Last time I checked, we were supposed to be a team.”

A laugh escaped from Tony’s mouth. He couldn’t believe this. “A team? Really, Cap?” He questioned, frowning. “That is just _priceless_ coming from you. We haven’t been a team in a _long_ time. Because if we were, I would expect a little bit more respect that what I’m getting right now. I have a kid not even three floors down and he’s hurt” His voice broke, and Tony stopped to gather himself. He started up again, voice quieter. “He’s hurt because of that son of a bitch Norman Osborn. And that kid has his own decisions that he makes, which I respect. One of those being that he didn’t want you all knowing who he was.”

“Does he not trust us?” Wanda asked in a hurt tone, more to herself than anyone else.

“I can’t answer for him. It’s his secret to tell, not mine.” He answered. “But what I don’t get is why you guys are harping on me like it is.”

“Tony. We just don’t understand why you even brought him here to begin with. We know that his aunt died and that’s horrible. But why is he really here? Is it only because he’s Spider-Man?” Steve questioned.

That threw him for a loop. They all thought that he was only taking care of Peter only because he was Spider-Man? Was that really what they thought of him? Tony clenched his teeth, his blood boiling now.

“The only reason that kid is here is because he has no one. No one else stepped up so _I_ did. But here you all are, thinking that I only took him in to use him as a _resource_?” Tony seethed.

“Tony, that’s not what we’re saying.” Natasha spoke up, her face set in a frown.

“Oh, really? That sure as hell sounds like that’s what you’re saying to me!” He all but yelled.

“Why did you bring him to Germany then? To use him. You thought that you had something to gain then.” Steve accused, pointing his finger.

Tony looked over at him with a piercing gaze. “Don’t go there, Rogers. You left me no choice! You and your little team of rogues were wanted by Ross-”

“Because of you, Tony! You were the one that was for the Accords and you signed them!” Steve angirly spat. It was a rarity to see him get this worked up over something, usually keeping his cool under stressful situations, maybe it was the soldier side to him. But now he wasn’t holding back his anger. “We’ve talked about this before. You know _exactly_ why we didn’t sign. They would have surrendered our _right_ to choose between right and wrong!”

Tony let out a frustrated sigh and leant back in his chair, running an annoyed hand down his face. Why didn’t they get it? Why couldn’t they see that he had been trying to help the team back then when the Accords were first created? He heard Steve let out a sigh from the other end of the table.

“The problem here… is that you brought a _minor_ into all of this. Peter is only _fifteen_ years old! He’s just a kid, Tony. And you discounted that when you asked him to go to Germany. So, we’re sorry if we don’t approve of you taking care of him...” Steve held up his hand. “We didn’t even approve of it when he _first_ came here. Because with your track record and your drinking habits… you’re not even capable of taking care of yourself.”

Tony snapped his head to look across the table at Steve, who just sat there with a stern face. Those words stung. It was like he was seeing Howard sitting in front of him, the disappointed eyes with the cold, emotionless face. He looked away from Steve, glancing at the others at the table. Natasha was looking down at the table, as was Clint, Scott, Rhodey. Bucky and Wanda were looking at him, only for the younger look away quickly when he looked at her. His eyes went back to Steve when the soldier stood up.

“We already talked before you got up here. We think it’s best that you took a break from the team. A long one… until you figure out what you’re going to do.” Steve let out a sigh, looking down at the table for a few seconds before looking back up at him. “You need to think about Peter and his best interests, Tony. You know he’s not accepting his aunt’s death like he should be. He’s not happy here. So you need to decide what you’re going to do… and we don’t think he should live with you. I’m sorry.”

Tony just sat there as everyone stood up and began to file out of the conference room one by one. The only person that stayed was Rhodey, who sat with his hands crossed on the table as he looked down at them. Tony looked over at him, silently wondering if his long-time friend had went against him and agreed with everything they had said. They both sat in silence for a few minutes in the silent room.

“Why aren’t you going with your buddies?” Tony asked him, trying (and failing) to keep his voice from wavering.

Rhodey let out a sigh, looking at him. “Because I don’t agree with them, Tony. I don’t agree with anything that they said about you and the Accords or Peter.” He frowned, moving his chair so he was facing him. “I signed the Accords too and I agreed with them. But I’ve seen you with Peter… I’ve seen how much you care about that kid, Tony. I saw you when he went down when Osborn hit him… and how you’ve spent hours upon hours in that chair next to his hospital bed. You care about that kid like he was your own. They don’t see that.”

Tony reached his hands up and rubbed his face, sighing. He did care about Peter like he was his own son. Maybe that could explain why he felt like he was dying from the inside right now because the kid was down in medical right now, severely injured. But he just couldn’t believe that his own team had went against him, making wild accusations about his reasoning behind taking Peter in. It was like Siberia all over again, the same betrayed feeling. Tony had honestly _trusted_ them, Steve and Barnes less so, but everyone else… they were the family that he’s never had. And that was all gone now.

He looked up at Rhodey and was about to say something before Jarvis’s voice filled the room.

_“Sir, Master Parker is awake but he seems to be in distress. Dr. Banner insists you go down immediately.”_

Tony stood up so fast that his chair skidded back, slamming into the wall behind him. He bolted towards the door and down the hallway to the elevator with Rhodey behind him (of course at his own pace with the aid of his leg braces). The elevator doors slid closed once they were in, already heading down to the medical floor. When the doors slid back open, Tony ran right out and headed to Peter’s room. What he didn’t expect to see was Bruce standing over the injured teen, holding him down.

“What’s going on?” Tony frantically asked in a panicked tone.

Bruce looked over his shoulder at him with wide eyes as he struggled to hold Peter down, who was mumbling incoherent things. Tony went right over and placed a hand on the teen’s uninjured shoulder, trying to hold him down.

“I don’t know but I need to take him for that MRI now.” Bruce said, his voice straining as he tried to hold Peter down as he weakly thrashed below their hands.

 

...

 

_Peter couldn’t breathe._

 

_He couldn’t even move._

 

_He was there again, trapped under the warehouse. Dust filled his nose and mouth, making it even harder for him to take in any oxygen. The heavy debris above him didn’t allow him to take in a full breath. He was suffocating. Peter tightly closed his eyes, frantically trying to get a grip on himself but he couldn’t. He was going to die here. He wasn’t going to be able to get out this time._

_“I warned you, Peter…” Came a voice, sounding eerily familiar. Peter slowly raised his head, seeing Toomes standing a few feet away from him, his arms crossed over his chest as he looked down at him, almost in pity.  “I told you to keep your nose out of my business...” Toomes took a few steps towards him, kneeling down. Peter wanted to shrink back away from him but he couldn’t because of the heavy debris crushing him. “And now you’re going to pay the price.”_

_“W-What are you talking about?” Peter gasped out._

_“I warned you that I’d kill you… and everyone you love.” Toomes stood up, an evil smile on his face as he turned away from Peter. He stepped into the darkness and came back, pulling someone with him. When the person turned around, Peter felt his blood run cold._

_“Peter!” May called out, struggling to get out of Toomes’ grasp._

_Toomes was wearing the Vulture suit now, the helmet shining it’s green, piercing eyes. Toomes laughed. “I warned you, Petey…” He threatened, voice low._

_It happened in a split second before Peter could even realize what had happened. May was on the floor, a gaping hole in her chest. She screamed in agony, the sound echoing in Peter’s head._

_“No! May!” Peter screamed, clawing at the ground, desperately trying to get to her._

_He had failed to protect her, again. This could have been his chance to save her but he failed. He failed. She was dead. Peter tightly closed his eyes, hot tears sliding down his cheeks. But when he opened them again, he wasn’t in what was left of the warehouse anymore. He was looking up at the night sky, wind whipping through his curls._

 

_He was falling._

 

_Peter felt something wrap around his body tightly, covering his head, immobilizing his limbs. Panic overtook his body, leaving him gasping and heaving for air. Before he could do anything, he felt his back slam into something and before he knew it, he was submerged in freezing cold water. The parachute was dragging him down deeper and deeper._

_He couldn’t breathe as cold water came in through his nose, rapidly filling up his lungs. The cold water shocked his system as he desperately struggled to swim back up to the surface. He knew the basics of saving someone if they were downing… just not for himself._

_He needed air or else he was going to die here._

_“Peter!” Someone’s muffled voice called through the water. “Peter! Wake up!”_

 

Consciousness came to him slowly as he opened his eyes, everything swirling together. He was somewhat able to see the figures above him. Pain radiated behind his eyes, making his pounding headache even worse than it already was.

“Peter, you with me buddy?” He heard Tony’s voice but it sounded far away.

His ears felt like someone had stuffed cotton in them, or like he was underwater. Was he still underwater? How was he able to breathe? Was he already dead?

“No, you’re not underwater, bud. Please look at me, Peter.” He heard Tony plead, gentle hands on his face.

Peter blinked his heavy eyes, looking up at Tony’s blurry face that swirled and danced around in his vision. Everything felt weird… confusing.

“Where ‘m I?” Peter mumbled, frowning. Tony was still moving around quickly in his vision, and it was starting to make Peter feel sea sick.

Tony exchanged a look with another blurry figure in the room before he looked back down at him, his eyes wide and full of anxiety and fear.

“You’re at the tower. You got hurt. Any of this ringing a bell?”

None of this was making sense. Peter couldn’t focus on anything right now, let alone trying to remember what the heck happened to him. He was scared that he couldn’t remember anything… he wanted May to be with him. She always made things better. She would wrap her arms around him tightly in a warm hug, telling him everything was okay.

“I want May…” Peter cried, tightly closing his eyes when another wave of pain washed over him.

He faintly heard voices all around him but he couldn’t focus on them through all the pain. His head felt like it was going to explode, it was _pounding_.

“We need to take him for that MRI _now._ ” Someone muttered, their voice sounding almost panicked. Peter couldn’t place where the voice was coming from, as more blurry figures rushed into the room.

But why? What was wrong? He felt gentle hands on him before he felt a swish of cold air hit his face. It almost felt like he was moving… somewhere. Peter blearily opened his eyes, a mixture of colors and shapes all around him, swirling blurrily. Everything was so weird and confusing.

“You’re going to be okay, Pete. I’m right here.” Tony shakily told him, the feeling of the man’s calloused hand on his cheek.

Peter closed his heavy eyes, feeling like he was being pulled away, back in the confines of darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It seems as though tensions are definitely rising between the team and Tony, especially him and Steve. They still haven't resolved their tensions from Siberia and everything that happened. What do you guys think is wrong with Peter? 
> 
> Thank you for all of your sweet comments in the last chapter! Please let me know what you thought of this one! : )
> 
> -Kara


	17. Chapter 17

Bruce sat by the desk with his head propped up on his hand, intensely looking at the screen in front of him. The room was silent as Tony looked between Bruce, the computer screen and Peter, who was lying in the MRI in the next room behind a glass window. Tony’s arms were crossed over his chest as he looked at the grainy image of Peter’s brain on the screen. Bruce had been silent for several moments as he studied the screen, reaching up and swiping the screen to look at other areas. Tony let out a shaky sigh, looking out the glass window at Peter as a nurse stood by the kid’s side, rubbing his hand in a reassuring gesture.

“I think I found something.” Bruce announced, breaking the silence of the small room.

Tony’s head snapped over to him, his stomach clenching with nerves. His anxiety was twisting his thoughts, and only negative outcomes were present in Tony’s mind. Bruce pushed his glasses up his nose, zooming in on something before pointing at it.

“You see this area of tissue here…” Bruce asks, glancing at Tony before looking back. “There’s some swelling going on here at the base of the fracture site.”

“That’s bad, right?” Tony asked, dread pooling in the pit of his stomach.

“Well it’s certainly not a good thing but it’s only minor swelling. From the looks of it, I don’t think it’s going to get any worse. There isn’t any fluid, so it should go down in a few hours, a day at most. I can give him some medications to help with that. I’ll put him on oxygen for a day or two… that will help with the swelling.” Bruce took his glasses off and placed them on the desk in front of him before reaching up, putting a hand on Tony’s shoulder. “He’s going to be just fine, Tony.”

Tony let out a sigh of relief, closing his eyes against the rapidly developing tears. After seeing Peter freaking out the way he was, then seeing him pass out… it had been extremely unsettling and nerve-racking. It was probably the worst thing he has ever had to witness in his life but the worst thing was not knowing what was wrong with Peter. It made it even worse that Bruce didn’t know. But they did now and Tony felt a bit better now that they knew what was wrong and how to fix it. It was nothing short of a miracle.

After settling Peter back in his hospital room, Bruce hooked him up to a few IV’s and placed an oxygen mask on his face. The sight all but broke Tony’s heart seeing the kid hooked up with wires and the oxygen mask on his pale, bruised face. But Peter was going to be okay. Tony heavily sat down in the chair next to Peter’s bed, leaning his head back and rubbing his face tiredly. A knock at the door made him drop his hands on his lap and look over, only to see Rhodey standing there.

“Come on in.” Tony said, motining his hand.

Rhodey walked in, looking away from Tony to look at Peter’s sleeping form. A worried look washed over his face as he stood next to Tony. Bruce had made him go back upstairs after they had to rush Peter into the MRI so they wouldn’t be crowding around the poor kid.

“How’s he doing?” He asked.

Tony let out a sigh, looking over at Peter. “Well, the MRI scans showed that he has some slight swelling in his brain near the fracture site on the back of his head. Bruce doesn’t think it’s going to get any worse… he said it should be cleared up in a couple of hours.”

Rhodey let out a relieved sigh, placing a hand on Tony’s shoulder. “Thank God. I was worried about the kid. Seeing him like that… was hard.” He said as he took a seat next to Tony, his leg braces whirring from the movement. “How’re you holding up?”

Tony let out a weak laugh, rubbing his face in his hands. “Wonderful. Just great. Seeming as the ‘team’ practically said that I’m an alcoholic and unfit as a guardian and watching my kid almost die, I’m doing hunky-dorey!” Tony couldn’t help the bitterness seeping into his words.

Rhodey slowly nodded, looking over at him with a concerned gaze. They room was engulfed in silence, except for the occasional beeping from the machines Peter was hooked up to. They sat in silence for a few minutes before a hesitant knock came at the door. Tony raised an eyebrow, looking over only to see Clint, Wanda and Scott standing there.

“Uh, hey, man. We wanted to stop by and see how he’s doing.” Clint spoke up, standing in the doorframe.

Tony clenched his fist, anger starting to bubble up from the sight of them all standing there. He let out a breath, looking away from Clint. “Didn’t know you actually cared.” Tony said, anger evident in his voice.

“Come on, man. We care.” Clint frowned.

“Funny, it didn’t seem like it upstairs in that meeting. You guys apparently think so little of me that you don’t think I can handle taking care of a kid.” Tony bitterly said.

“Tony we care about the kid. That has nothing to do with it. Don’t be like this.”

Tony let out a sigh and stood up from the chair. Rhodey looked at him cautiously, almost as if he expected him to lash out at them. He looked over at Clint, seeing the archer visibly tense like he expected the same thing. “I honestly don’t care what you all think or feel.” He spat, taking a few steps over to Clint. “The kid’s resting right now, so I think it’d be a good idea if you three just went back upstairs.”

Clint, Wanda and Scott all looked at him with mixed expressions, shock being one of them. Tony was a bit shocked at himself too. Not even a few hours ago… everyone had been on relatively fine terms with each other. But now that wasn’t the case. It was almost as if he was in defense mode now.

“Tony, we only wanted to see how Peter was doing. That’s all.” Scott tried, his voice calm.

Wanda took a step towards him, a sincere expression on her face. “We are sorry if we upset you earlier but-”

Tony looked at her, eyes blazing with anger. “Upset? I am way past being upset. I’m _pissed._ You guys decided to take Cap’s side on this! Do you honestly think that I don’t care about this kid?” He motioned his hand in Peter’s direction.

“That’s not what Cap meant. We only care about Peter and his best interests, Tony.” Clint told him in a forceful tone. The archer stood in a defensive stance, muscles taut and ready to attack if needed.

Tony scoffed, shaking his head in disbelief. Before he could say anything else, Bruce walked up from behind them.

“If you guys are going to fight do it somewhere else. There’s a patient in here that needs to rest.” Bruce told them, clearly annoyed at their arguing.

“But Bruce can you agree with us here? He doesn’t-”

“No. I’m not getting in the middle of this. I’m too busy for this and I’m trying to help Peter right now. So please, go fight somewhere else and let him rest.” Bruce forcefully said, moving past them to get into the hospital room.

Tony turned away from them, retreating back to the chair next to Peter’s side. He let out a sigh, rubbing his face. He looked back at the door, seeing that they all had left. It was a good thing that Bruce got here when he did or that argument could have gotten more heated than it was.

Bruce let out a sigh as he walked over to the clipboard at the end of Peter’s hospital bed, putting his glasses on. He read the information for a few moments before writing something down on the chart attached to it. “Tony, I think I’m going to up Peter’s pain meds when he’s awake, if that’s alright with you?”

Tony nodded. “Yes, of course.” The less pain the poor kid had to be in the better. He could only imagine how the next few days were going to be for him and the recovery process. Tony was going to have to clear his schedule with Pepper to make sure that he was with the kid the whole time. “You don’t think he’s in any pain now do you?”

“I’m sure he’s in a bit of pain but very little. If he shows any signs I can easily increase the dosage I’m giving him now.” Bruce answered, taking his glasses off.

Tony nodded, looking over at Peter’s sleeping face. He watched the slow rise and fall of his chest, the small puff of air on the oxygen mask as he breathed. Steve’s words kept going through his head as he looked at Peter, making him wonder if the kid was actually happy living here with him. He thought that things had been getting a bit better between them lately… but now he wasn’t so sure. The last thing he wanted was for Peter to be sad and unhappy, more so than he already was with his aunt’s passing. Steve was right though about Peter not accepting May’s death properly. That would be something he would have to talk to the kid about or look into having a therapist see him.

“Care to explain what that was all about?” Bruce asked after a moment.

Tony let out a sigh, looking up to see Bruce looking at him expectantly, glasses in hand. “Where to begin…” Tony muttered. He looked up at Peter before standing up, motioning for Bruce and Rhodey to follow him out into the hallway. He didn’t want to risk Peter hearing any of this, just to be safe. Once they were out in the hallway, Tony shut the door behind himself, letting out a sigh. “Well, apparently the team thinks I’m too much of a careless drunk to take care of a kid. And they also want me to take a break from the team to think about the kid’s best interests.”

Bruce frowned, looking at Rhodey, who just nodded. He looked back at Tony, looking like he was unsure how to respond to that. “Tony, I know you’ve had your problems in the past but… I know how much you care about Peter. Why would they say that?” He asked.

Tony shrugged with a frustrated sigh. “Because they think they know me and that they actually have a damn say in what I can and can’t do with my life.” He angrily said as he turned away from them, taking a few steps towards the window that looked into the hospital room. He looked in at Peter, feeling his eyes burn slightly from the wave of emotions he was feeling. He turned his head, looking at Rhodey and Bruce. “I honestly don’t care what they all think. I don’t. What I care about is that kid in there. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I ever gave up and had him go into the system. It would kill me, not knowing where the kid was, if he was being taken care of, if he was eating or sleeping, or if he was waking up every night from nightmares, and if there was anyone he could go to for help.” He said turning back to the window, a few tears slipping out of his eyes and down his cheeks. Usually, he would try everything in his power to hide his emotions from the people around him but he honestly didn’t care right now. “The kid means the world to me.” He admitted, barely a whisper.

The hallway was silent for several moments. Tony whipped the tears off his face, sniffing before letting out a shaky sigh. He continued looking through the window at Peter until Bruce spoke up.

“What are you going to do?” He asked.

Tony let out a sigh, shrugging. “I don’t know. I think that I’m going to move the kid and I to the Compound when he’s feeling better… just for now until I can figure things out.”

“What are you going to do about his school?” Rhodey asked.

"I’ll figure something out.” Tony answered. He honestly had no idea what he was going to do about Peter’s school if they moved back to the Compound. The last thing that Tony wanted was to stay in the Tower with everyone hating on him. They could stay at the Compound while the kid recuperated. Maybe he could find a penthouse in the city closer to Peter’s school and they could go back and forth between there and the Compound when needed. It was honestly too stressful even think of right now.

“You’ll figure it out, Tony. I know you will. I don’t agree with the team… I think Peter’s the best thing that’s ever happened to you.” Bruce told him as he placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, gently squeezing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! My ideal updating day is Wednesdays but since I'm going to be busy this week I'm going to be updating today. I want to thank all of you for all of your amazing comments in the last chapter! Seeing you guys debating about the decisions behind the events in Civil War was so awesome! I'm happy to see that you all are enjoying what you're reading so far! Let me know what you guys thought of this chapter!
> 
> I am also on Tumblr as marvelous-reader so swing on over there! 
> 
> -Kara


	18. Chapter 18

No dreams came to Peter while he was asleep. It was as if his mind had been switched off, surrounding him in foggy blackness. It was a strange place, almost like he was floating without any knowledge of anything or anyone around him. He wasn’t sure how long he was like this for before sounds began to come back to him. He could hear murmuring voices around him but he couldn’t understand who they were or what they were saying. As the time went by, the sounds and voices became clearer and eventually feeling came back to him little by little as well. 

Peter woke up to the sound of soft beeping in his ears. It was steady, beeping every few seconds or so in an almost soothing manner. There was something on his face, blowing something cold on his face. He frowned and opened his eyes slowly, seeing that he was in a dimly lit room. A hospital room. He faintly remembered the fight with the Goblin and getting hurt but everything else was foggy after that. He just didn’t understand why he couldn’t remember anything else after that. Maybe he was badly injured? A small snoring sound came from his right side, making Peter sluggishly roll his head to the side, earning a shooting pain that drove through his head. He tightly closed his eyes, letting out a small pained groan. After the pain subsided a little, he opened his eyes again and saw Tony sitting in a chair next to the bed, his head slumped forward in an uncomfortable looking position.

“T’ny…” Peter mumbled, his voice muffled from the thing on his face. He only got a snore from the man in response. “Tony.” He repeated a bit louder this time, wanting to reach out to Tony but his right arm was securely strapped to his chest.

Peter frowned, looking at Tony as he continued to snore away. He honestly looked like he could use a few hours of sleep. Tony’s hair and clothes were disheveled, looking like he hadn’t properly showered in a day or two. Worry flooded through Peter at the thought of Tony sitting by his side the whole time, not caring to take care of himself. He silently wondered if the man had even remembered to eat anything.

“T’ny.” Peter tried again, coughing weakly around a sore throat. Tony’s head shot up as he looked around the room for a moment before his eyes settled on Peter, a relieved expression washing over his face.

“Hey, kiddo… how’re you feeling?” He asked, leaning forward in the chair, reaching forward to rest a gentle hand on his cheek.

“Sore… tired.” Peter honestly answered.

Tony nodded, moving his hand to brush through his curls. “I know bud. I can have Bruce give you more pain meds to help.” He softly said. “Do you remember what happened?”

“The fight… with Goblin.” Peter tiredly answered, already feeling like he was going to fall back asleep in the next few minutes.

“Yeah. You got hurt pretty bad, kiddo. You’re going to be down here for a little while until you get better, okay? And I’m going to be right here with you.” Tony told him, continuing to run a hand through Peter’s hair, which was probably why he felt like falling back asleep because of how soothing it felt. “Before you go back to sleep I’m going to have Bruce check you over. J, where’s Bruce?” He asked, looking at a space above Peter’s head.

_ “I have already alerted Dr. Banner and he is on his way down.” _

Peter’s eyes were starting to get heavy and it was getting harder to stay awake. He looked up at Tony with half-lidded eyes, feeling the man’s hand run through his curls. It felt just like how May use to do it when he was sick in bed or had a hard time falling asleep. She would sit on the edge of his bed back at home and sit with him until he fell asleep, softly talking to him as she ran a hand through his hair.

“Hey, Petey stay with me for a little longer, okay?” Tony softly told him.

“Tired…” Peter mumbled, struggling to keep his eyes open any longer.

“Bruce will be here any second to look you over and then you can go back to sleep.” Tony told him, feeling his calloused hand resting on his cheek, thumb moving in small circles on his cheekbone.

Bruce walked in the room a moment after, looking a bit disheveled like Tony was. He smiled when he saw Peter looking his way. “Hey, Peter. It’s good to see that you’re awake.” He said, coming to stand next to the bed on Peter’s left side. “How are you feeling?” He asked.

“He told me that he’s sore and tired.” Tony answered for him.

Bruce nodded, carefully lowering Peter’s arm back to the bed. He glanced up at the monitors in front of him before looking back at Peter, reaching in his pocket for something, taking out a small silver pen looking thing. Bruce crouched down a little and clicked the top of the silver pen, a light coming from the end, shining it in Peter’s eye as he looked at it. Peter tightly closed his eyes when the light met his eyes, sending a sharp pain through his head. He let out a small groan.

“Sorry, Peter.” Bruce apologized sympathetically as he clicked the light off, putting it back in his pocket. He continued looking Peter over, looking at the back of the teen’s head to check on the fracture site for any swelling. When he was done, he helped Peter slowly lie back down. “Well, he’s looking a lot better. I think it’s safe to say that he’s in the clear now.” Bruce pointedly said to Tony, noticing that Peter was already falling back asleep.

Tony sadly smiled at Peter, running a hand through the teen’s hair. “Thanks for taking care of my kid, Bruce.” He said without thinking.

“No problem.” Bruce said with a knowing smile. He walked to the end of the bed and picked up Peter’s chart, writing a few things down on it. “Well I was upstairs with the team…” He said after a moment.

Tony looked up at him questioningly. Bruce put the clipboard down, taking off his glasses as he sat down in the empty chair next to Tony.

“The teams pretty mad. They… wanted my opinion on the situation.”

“What’d you tell them?” Tony asked, almost hesitantly.

“I told them about how much you and Peter have come… and how good you are for him, especially now with…” Bruce paused, looking over at Peter, making sure he was asleep. “...his aunt’s passing.” He finished.

Tony let out a sigh, feeling very grateful to have a friend like Bruce in his life. “How’d they take that?”

“Well, not great. They wanted my perspective as a doctor or whatever. But Rhodey and Pepper were there and agreed with me. And let me tell you… Pepper chewed them all out.” Bruce said with a small laugh.

A small laugh escaped from Tony as well at the thought of Pepper doing that. “I’ve been on the receiving end of that. Bet it wasn’t pretty.”

“It wasn’t. I don’t think I’ve seen Steve so shocked before.” Bruce sarcastically said.

A smile tugged at the corner of Tony’s mouth at that. Leave it to Pepper to command a room and give the team her two cents, even shaking Steve up from the sounds of it. But that was the business side of Pepper, having the ability to own a room and and everyone’s attention. That was why she was so good at running Stark Industries.

The two settled into a comfortable silence for a few minutes, just watching Peter breath and shuffle in his breath, before Bruce had to leave, leaving Tony with Peter. Tony let out a small sigh, reaching his hand forward and gently held Peter’s. His hand was warm,  _ alive _ . It helped calm the nervousness that was flooding through Tony right now as he thought about the team. He wondered how they would react to him packing everything up and moving him and Peter to the Compound. He honestly didn’t care about what they thought… but he cared about his kid and the less friction and stress around him the better. The only thing on Tony’s mind was helping Peter get better and heal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your lovely comments! I love hearing what you guys think of the story so far! Let me know what you thought of this chapter! ^-^
> 
> -Kara


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry this is a bit late today but here you go! Again, thank you so much for all of your lovely reviews and kudos! I hope you enjoy! :D

A few days had passed by and Peter was getting better, slowly but surely. Tony had sat with him most of the time, only trading places with Pepper or Rhodey when he needed to eat, shower or get a few hours of sleep. Thankfully, there hadn’t been any more issues with Peter’s brain swelling again. Bruce closely monitored Peter and took him in for another MRI the day before, finding that the fracture site was healing remarkably well. Over the past couple of days, Peter had mostly been sleeping due to all the healing his body was doing, so Tony would sit with him while he slept. There had been a few times that the kid woke up from a nightmare but he hadn’t told him about it. Tony could only guess that it had something to do with the fight with the Goblin or his aunt’s death. He just wished that the nightmares would go away so the kid could sleep soundly. 

Tony currently sat in his usual chair next to Peter’s hospital bed, his feet propped up on the bed as he worked on his StakPad, occasionally looking up at the TV in the corner of the room. They had started a movie about twenty minutes ago after Peter complained that he was bored. They were watching Inside Out, which Tony wasn’t really paying attention to as he answered a few work emails. He hadn’t been able to fully clear his schedule with Pepper, so he had agreed to answer emails and approve of any projects that came in as he sat down in the medbay with Peter. Glancing up from his tablet, he looked over at Peter and saw that the kid’s eyes were almost closed. Tony sadly smiled as he observed Peter struggling to stay awake as he watched the movie. The poor kid was exhausted.

“Movie boring you, kiddo?” He asked in a teasing manner.

Peter’s eyes opened again and he sluggishly turned his head, looking over at him. “A little… I’m not really following it.” He admitted.

“I’m not really following it either. Want to watch something else or did you want to get some more sleep?” Tony asked, taking his feet off the bed as he sat up in the chair. He stood up and stretched, placing his tablet on the nightstand next to the bed before going over and sitting on the edge of the bed.

“But all I’ve been doing is sleeping.” Peter whined.

“Yes, but your body’s also doing a lot of healing. You need all the sleep you can get, bud.” Tony told him, reaching out and running a hand through the kid’s messy curls. He had noticed that Peter seemed to relax whenever he did this and usually fell asleep.

“But I want stay up for more than an hour.” Peter said with a small sigh, looking at him with tired eyes.

“I know but this won’t last forever. How about you get some sleep for now?” Tony asked, continuing to run a hand through Peter’s hair as he watched him struggle to keep his eyes open.

“Fine…” Peter sleepily mumbled, closing his eyes.

Tony continued running a hand through Peter’s hair as the teen’s breathing slowed down and evened out a few moments after, sound asleep. It was amazing how fast the poor kid could fall asleep. Tony let out a small sigh, glancing down at his watch, seeing that it was around twelve thirty in the afternoon. It was definitely time for some more coffee since the last cup he had was around nine this morning when Pepper brought it down for him. Taking his hand away from Peter’s hair, Tony slowly stood up from the bed without waking the kid up and turned around, heading towards the door.

“J, turn the TV off please.” He softly said, standing at the door.

The TV on the wall clicked off seconds after, dimming the room. With one last glance at Peter, Tony walked out of the room, squinting a little from the brightness of the hallway compared to the room. They had been keeping the room dimly lit to prevent Peter from getting any headaches due to his enhanced senses. The last thing the poor kid needed was any additional pain.

“Let me know if Peter needs me for anything.” Tony said as he rubbed his face, heading towards the elevator.

“ _Will do, sir.”_

Tony’s feet dragged along the floor before he stopped at the metal doors. When they slid openly smoothly, Tony mumbled; “Main floor.”

The elevator doors closed and within seconds, began moving up. Tony let out a sigh, running a hand through his hair. The elevator stopped once it reached the floor and the doors silently slid open before he stepped out. He glanced around the floor, thankfully finding it to be empty of the team. He hoped that he’d be able to get his coffee and go back down to the medbay without anyone coming in. Tony beelined over to the kitchen, and began the process of filling the coffee machine with water and coffee grounds before he waited for it to brew. The sudden sound of heavy footsteps made him turn his head, only to see Steve standing there. The soldier stopped, visibly tensing at the sight of him.

“Tony.” He greeted.

“Rogers.” Tony coldly said, turning back to the coffee maker, inwardly wishing for it to brew faster so he could just grab his mug and go.

“How’s the kid doing? Bruce hasn’t told us anything…” Steve said, filling the silence of the room.

Tony clenched his fist on top of the granite countertop, breathing out through his nose as he felt anger beginning to bubble in him. After everything Steve had said in the meeting, he had absolutely no right to know how Peter was doing. And he was grateful to Bruce for not sharing any information about his kid to the team. “Better.” He simply answered.

“That’s good…” Steve said, silent for a few moments, leaning on the wall next to him, arms crossed over his chest. He looked uncomfortable. “Have you thought at all about what you’re going to do after this?”

The room’s atmosphere changed in an instant from awkward to tense. Tony turned his head, glaring at Steve. All Tony wanted to do right now was punch him in the face, that’s how angry he was.

“Yeah I have actually.” He answered as Steve looked at him expectantly. “I’ve thought a lot about our little chat and I think it would be a good idea that the team split up for a while. At least me anyway.” He said, grabbing a clean mug from the side of the coffee machine, filling himself up a cup as it reached the top of the pot.

Steve frowned, sighing. “Tony-”

“No. I’ve already made my decision.” He said, slamming the pot back into the coffee machine with a little too much force. Luckily none of the steaming hot coffee spilled out. “Once Bruce gives me the green light for Peter, I’m going to move  _ my kid _ and I out of here.”

Steve sighed, looking over at the windows across the room for a few seconds before looking back at him. “I don’t think that’s-”

Tony bitterly laughed, shaking his head. “I honestly don’t care what you think, Rogers. You had the audacity to tell me to get rid of  _ my _ kid in that conference room. You think that you can walk around here and tell me what to do and how to live my life, well your wrong!” He spat. “I don’t care what you or anyone else thinks of me. All I care about is my kid and getting him past this. Until we’re out of here I would love it if you all would stay out of my way.”

Steve opened his mouth to say something but Tony didn’t give him the chance to as he turned around, heading back to the elevator. The doors slid open and he got right in as they slid shut again. He let out a loud, frustrated sigh, gripping the mug handle tightly.

“Medbay, Jarvis.” He said before he felt the elevator move downwards.

He just didn’t expect it to stop on the next floor. Tony tensed up as he waited for the doors to slide open. When they did, he was met face to face with Natasha. She simply nodded at him in greeting and got in, standing away from him as she looked straight ahead at the closing doors.

“Gym, Jarvis.” She smoothly said, no emotion evident in her voice. “How’s the kid doing?” She asked after a moment.

“He’s fine.” Tony answered, continuing to look at the elevator doors.

She seemed to take his tenseness as a hint, so she remained silent after that. The elevator stopped and the doors opened on the medbay floor. He was about to step out before she spoke up.

“I’m sorry for what Steve said at the meeting… it wasn’t fair.” She said, looking over at him.

“Well, it doesn’t matter now.” He said, stepping out of the elevator. “I’ve already decided that once the kid’s better I’m going to move him and I out of here. I don’t want him to be around where he’s not wanted.” He spat, turning away from her as he stepped out of the elevator, walking down the hallway as the elevator doors closed.

Tony sighed as he headed back towards Peter’s room, trying to calm himself down. The last thing he wanted was for the kid to see him angry. Walking into the room, he looked over at the bed, seeing that Peter was still sound asleep. Walking over to the chair, Tony sat down and took a long sip of his cooling coffee. He honestly couldn’t believe that Steve had pretended to actually care about Peter then go and ask what he was planning on doing with the kid after. What the hell was his problem? Did he honestly think that he actually had a say in his life? Natasha was no different. If she actually cared about him or Peter, she would have defended him at that meeting the other day instead of silently sitting there like she had.

Tony let out a sigh and rubbed his face with his free hand. When has he ever looked at his own teammates like this? He felt like they were plotting against him or something. It was probably because of how overprotective he was of Peter. He knew that the team wasn’t a fan of him bringing the kid here to begin with. So maybe it was a good thing that he was moving back to the Compound with Peter. Tony honestly needed a lot of time and space away from the team right now. And if they couldn’t accept that this was his life now… then maybe it would be a permanent thing.

…

Peter woke up to his head throbbing uncomfortably as he slowly blinked open his eyes. He tightly closed his eyes, letting out a small groan from the pain that was pulsating behind his eyes. He felt a bit disconnected from his body at the moment, maybe it was because he was just waking up and the pain had thrown him off guard.

“You alright, kiddo?” He heard Tony ask him, the feeling of the bed dipping on his right side. 

Peter opened his eyes, finding Tony in front of him with a concerned look on his face.

“My… my head hurts.” Peter all but whispered, afraid that talking too loud would make the pounding worse.

“Scale of one to ten?”

“Like… a six?” Peter mumbled, rubbing his forehead with his uninjured left arm.

“Okay… I’ll get Bruce to come down here and check you out. Jarvis?” Tony said without taking his eyes off of him.

_ “Dr. Banner has been alerted, sir.” _

Tony let out a shaky breath, running a hand through his hair, meaning that he was freaking out a little bit right now. The pain behind Peter’s eyes magnified a little, making him close his eyes to try to relieve some of the pain. He weakly held out his hand to Tony, who took it instantly.

“You’re okay, kiddo. You’re okay.” Tony muttered in a soft tone, as Peter felt the man’s hand run through his hair.

They only had to wait a few minutes before Bruce came in the room, coming right over to Peter’s side. He took his glasses out of his button down pocket and put them on. “Jarvis told me your head’s bothering you?” He questioned, looking down at Peter.

“Y-Yeah.” Peter answered.

“One to ten?”

“A six… seven.” Peter said, closing his eyes when another sharp pain went through his head.

Bruce nodded and began looking him over, shining a light in his eyes that made his headache worse for a few seconds before it died down a little. Bruce felt around his head and asked him questions before he finished the examination. Bruce stood back, letting out a small sigh.

“I believe that with your injury, you’re experiencing a migraine. That’s a common symptom after a serious head injury. I can give you a bit more pain meds to help but it’ll make you a bit sleepy.”

“But I’m already tired all the time.” Peter whined, dropping his head back against the pillows behind him, wincing when a sharp pain erupted on the back of his head from the movement.

“I know but it won’t be forever, Peter. Your body is healing and you need rest.” Bruce told him as he went over to the IV stand, adjusting the amount of medication.

“The migraines... those are normal right?” Tony asked as he looked at Peter with worry.

“Yes but if they get any worse I can prescribe some pain medication to help with them. Thankfully with Peter’s healing, I don’t think he’ll have to deal with them for long.” Bruce told him.

The two of them began to talk more about it but Peter felt himself zone out, probably because of the higher dosage of pain medication. Peter blinked his heavy eyes a few times, trying to stay awake to hear what the two men were saying but before he knew it, his eyes were closing without his consent.

…

Tony and Bruce had noticed that Peter had fallen asleep sometime during their conversation, so Bruce had left so Peter could get some sleep. Tony had taken the time to head up to his personal floor, where he knew that no one would be, especially after his conversation with Steve. He was sure that he had repeated it back to the team by now. Tony let out a sigh as he got off the elevator on his floor, heading to the kitchen for something to eat. He was a bit surprised to see Pepper sitting at the center island, typing away on her tablet. She looked up when he came in, offering a small smile. 

“Hey.” She greeted.

“Hi… what are you doing up here? Don’t you have a board meeting at two?” He asked, glancing at the clock on the wall, seeing that it was one thirty in the afternoon.

Pepper let out a sigh, shaking her head. “Well I did until it got canceled. But I’m not complaining about having the rest of the day off, especially on a Friday afternoon.” She sarcastically added.

“Well that’s good then.” Tony said with a smile, heading over to the refrigerator to make himself a sandwich.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been down to see Peter today. Is he doing any better?” She asked.

Tony let out a sigh, taking out the bread and sandwich meat. “Well, he’s doing a bit better but he’s still pretty sore. Bruce had to up his pain meds because his head was bothering him.”

“The poor thing.” She sadly said.

“I know.” He said as he took out two pieces of bread, putting a piece of cheese and turkey on top. “I just hate this, Pep. He’s in pain and there’s nothing I can do to help him.”

“You’re doing everything you can, Tony. And Bruce is as well. It’s just going to take some time for Peter to get better.” She offered in a soft tone.

Tony nodded, finishing up making his sandwich before he put the packages of lunch meat and bread back in the refrigerator. He picked up his sandwich and took a bite, the kitchen engulfing in silence.

“So… I heard about your conversation with Steve.” Pepper said after a moment, making Tony look over at her.

“Yeah…” He said around a mouthful before swallowing. “And what did the good ol’ Captain have to say about it?”

Pepper looked at him for a moment before she looked down at the countertop with a small sigh. “He wasn’t happy, that’s for sure. And the team’s not happy to hear that you’re leaving the tower. But… I think that it may be a good idea that you and Peter do. The team needs some time to cool off and realize that Peter is now a big part of your life.”

“And how do you feel about that? I really haven’t gotten your opinion on it.” Tony asked, leaning his hip against the countertop, folding his arms over his chest. 

Pepper looked at him, looking like she was debating the question for a moment. “Well, I have definitely seen a change in you. A good change. I see how much you care for Peter, Tony. You’ve put your life on hold to help him.” She smiled, looking up at the ceiling as she shook her head. “And I’ve known you for  _ years _ . I’ve never seen you so invested and committed to anything before. And you’re talking to the person who was in a relationship with you.” She teased. 

That stung a little hearing her say that. They had both called off their relationship back before the whole Accords fiasco with the team. It had been a mutual agreement. Pepper had wanted him to retire as Iron Man but he just couldn’t, not when a threat could be imminent. His suits were part of him and he just couldn’t step away from being Iron Man. Splitting up with Pepper felt like a piece of him was taken away. He was just grateful that she wanted to be in his life still, except as Pepper called it, “just friends.” But he didn’t want them to just be friends, as selfish as it sounded.. Pepper was an amazing woman and he wouldn’t know what he’d do without her. And he could never stop loving her. He just wished that he could tell her that but he was afraid that she would walk out of his life for good. 

“Thanks, Pep.” He chose to say instead, offering a smile. 

She smiled back before letting out a small sigh. “But the question now… is what are you going to do? Where are you planning on moving?” She asked. 

Tony sighed, shrugging. “Well, I was thinking of moving to the Compound… but I just wouldn’t want the team stopping in for a visit since they have full clearance of the place. Also there’s Peter’s school to worry about when he’s better enough to go back…” He trailed off, suddenly thinking about it. He had thought that the Compound might’ve worked in the beginning but he was thinking of all the issues that could arise by moving there. Like he said, the team could stop in one day unannounced and he didn’t want to deal with them for quite a while. There was also the risk of someone attacking the Compound and he didn’t want that now that he had a kid to worry about. He really should have given this more thought. 

“I have an idea.” Pepper said, looking over at him. “What if you found a penthouse that’s close enough to Peter’s school so he could still go there?”

“Actually… that’s not a bad idea.” Tony said after a moment as he considered it. “I would just have to find one that I could set up a lab or two… extra bedrooms and stuff.” 

“I’m sure you won’t have a problem with that. You could always give Rob a call. I’m sure he could find a place by next weekend?” She suggested. 

Tony nodded, running a hand through his hair. Calling his real estate guy would definitely be a big help instead of looking himself. “Yeah, I probably will do that.”

Pepper smiled softly and looked back down at her tablet. The two settled into a comfortable conversation after that, talking about Stark Industries work that Tony’s missed while he’s been with Peter and a few other business related topics. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well the tensions with Steve and Tony are definitely strong, as well as with the rest of the team. Poor Peter’s really having a rough time right now but thankfully he has Tony there with him. 
> 
> Let me know your thoughts on this chapter!


	20. Chapter 20

A week had now gone by since the Goblin’s attack and Peter began to get better, little by little. Bruce had brought him in for another MRI yesterday and they had found that Peter’s fracture at the back of his head was almost completely healed, even though his head was still bothering him from time to time. His collarbone, right arm and wrist were doing better but they were still wrapped up and casted to give them more time to heal and to make sure that they healed properly. Peter still wasn’t used to wearing the sling though, especially on his dominant arm.

But he was managing, even if he was still bedridden down in the medbay. Bruce had agreed to let Peter go back up to Tony’s floor yesterday after the MRI results. Today was the day that he’d be able to escape the medbay, even though he’d still have to be on bedrest when he was back upstairs. But that was fine just as long as he didn’t have to stay down here anymore.

Peter let out an impatient sigh as he looked at the clock on the wall, seeing that it was nine thirty in the morning. He looked over at Tony, who was sitting in the chair next to the bed on his phone. “When can we go?” He asked.

“When Bruce says we can.” Tony told him, voice monotone, without looking away from his phone.

“But I can get out of here today so why can’t we go now?” Peter impatiently asked.

Tony sighed and looked up at the teen with a small smile. “I’m happy that you want to get out of here, kiddo. But Bruce needs to check you over one last time before you can go.”

Peter pouted, dropping back against the pillows behind him. “But Bruce _lives_ here. He can do that any time.”

“I know but this is different, bud. Just be patient. I’m sure Bruce will be down any minute.” Tony told him as he looked back down at his phone.

Peter let out a small sigh and looked away from him. He didn’t understand why Bruce couldn’t have discharged him earlier this morning. Yeah, he was being a bit impatient. But being cooped up in bed for a whole week did that to you. For now, he’d just have to wait. He just didn’t mean to fall asleep while he waited. Over the past few days it had been hard for him to stay awake for more than an hour. Bruce told him it was because of his head injury and his body needing extra sleep to heal. But now it was just getting annoying.

Peter wasn’t sure how long he had been asleep before he felt a hand on his forehead, followed by soft murmurings around him.

“I don’t know, Bruce… he’s still not doing good. I think it’s too early.” He heard Tony saying in a worried tone.

“I’ve looked him over, Tony. He’s fine to move back up to your floor. He has to stay in bed anyways and I would rather have him more comfortable.” Bruce softly said.

Peter slowly opened his eyes, blinking several times to wake himself up a little. He sluggishly turned his head, seeing Tony’s concerned face with Bruce standing behind him.

“Morning, Peter.” Bruce greeted, moving around Tony so he could stand on the side of the bed. “How’re you feeling today?”

“Tired… a bit sore still.” Peter groggily answered as Bruce took out his pen light.

Bruce clicked the light on and looked in both of Peter’s eyes before clicking it off. “Well your concussion is almost gone and your head injury is looking better.” He said as he began taking Peter’s pulse and the usual check up routine he had grown used to.

“I can go back upstairs, right?” Peter hopefully asked when Bruce finished.

Bruce nodded, a small smile on his face. “Yes, just as long as you promise to stay in bed for a few days. Doctor’s orders.” He told him in a serious tone.

Peter nodded. “Got it.”

After Bruce unhooked him from all the medical equipment and took his IV out, Peter was practically vibrating with excitement. He would finally be able to leave the medbay. Tony had brought down one of Peter’s t-shirts and a pair of sweatpants that he could change into. Peter was beyond grateful and happy that he’d be able to get out of the hospital gown. Finally. Tony had helped Peter out of bed, wrapping an arm around his side as he helped him over to the bathroom so he could change. The only thing that Peter really wanted to do was take a long hot shower to wash the hospital smell and sweat off of himself. But this would have to do for now.

Changing was a bit difficult though when his arm was in a sling and Bruce had told him not to take it off. He struggled to pull his sweatpants up with one hand but he managed. The only problem was his shirt and he couldn’t exactly go around shirtless. Peter let out a sigh and picked his shirt up before leaving the bathroom. He was feeling a tiny bit lightheaded and his legs were hurting a little bit from standing for so long. He had barely gotten out of bed this week, only for bathroom breaks. The last thing he wanted was to look like a baby to anyone, so he told himself to just deal with it. Bad enough he needed help with putting a t-shirt on.

“Tony?” Peter asked, coming out from the bathroom, finding the man sitting on the edge of the bed. “I can’t get the shirt on.” Peter pouted as he held the shirt towards his mentor.

Tony chuckled and stood up, walking over to him. “Yeah it’s a bit tricky with one of these things on.” He said as he carefully helped Peter out of the sling, sliding his shirt over his head and through his injured arm, which hurt a bit. “That feel okay?” Tony asked as carefully put Peter’s arm back in the sling.

“Yeah, thanks.” Peter smiled, moving over to the bed, sitting down on the edge.  

Bruce walked in the room, holding an green pill bottle. “Alright, I’ve got a four day supply of pain medication here, so you should be good to go, Peter.” He said with a smile, handing the bottle to Tony. “He just needs one pill a day whenever he wakes up and if he’s in any more pain you can give him two. And if you have any questions or anything, you know where to find me.” He sarcastically said.

Tony smiled, nodding. “Thanks, Bruce.” He turned around and looked at Peter. “Alright, you ready to break free of this place?”

Peter smiled, nodding enthusiastically. “I’ve been ready all day.”

He stood up from the bed, ignoring how his vision swam a tiny bit from the sudden movement. Tony wrapped an arm around his side as they both headed towards the door, leading out into the hallway.

“See you later, Bruce.” Tony said over his shoulder as they stepped out into the hallway, the lights burning Peter’s eyes a little.

“Yeah, see you Dr. Banner!” Peter also called, feeling a bit rude for not thanking the man for saving his life.

Bruce smiled, standing in the doorway. “I’ll see you guys later.”

Tony let out a sigh, looking forward as they headed down the hallway towards the elevator. “So, you feeling hungry? Now that you’re free of the medbay I was thinking that I could order us something special for a celebratory brunch.”

Peter looked up at him and smiled. “Yeah that sounds great. I was getting sick of eating all of those vegetables Bruce was making me eat.” He joked.

Tony laughed, shaking his head as they got on the elevator. “My floor, J. And for now restrict access only to Bruce, Happy, Rhodey, and Pepper.”

Peter frowned at that, wondering why the team couldn’t go up. Maybe Tony didn’t want anyone to disturb them while he was recovering? Before he could think anymore of it, the elevator moved upwards and the movement gave Peter a bit of vertigo, making him reach out and grab Tony’s arm.

“Whoa, you okay?” Tony asked, grabbing Peter’s good shoulder.

Peter nodded, tightly closing his eyes. “Y-Yeah. It was just… I wasn’t expecting it to go up so fast, you know?”

“Are you sure?” Tony asked in a worried tone.

Peter shakily nodded, and looked at him. “I’m sure. I’m okay.”

“Well if you’re not I’m getting Bruce, alright? If you don’t feel good you gotta tell me, kiddo. Okay?”

“I will.” Peter answered with a small smile.

Tony let out a small sigh and wrapped an arm around him, seeming to let the subject go. The elevator stopped once they reached the floor, the doors sliding open. Peter let out a grateful sigh as they stepped out.

“Can I go in the living room? I’ve been in bed all week.” Peter asked, looking up at Tony.

“Sure but you have to go right to bed afterwards, okay?” Tony told him as he helped Peter over to the living room, carefully helping him sit down on the couch. He stood back up and let out a sigh. “Well, I know a great place that can have some food delivered. I’ll go call and while I do that, you stay here and relax. Jarvis can put a movie on for you if you want.”

“Sure.” Peter said with a smile as Tony turned around and headed over to the kitchen, taking his cell phone out of his jeans pocket.

Peter let out a small content sigh as he leaned his head back against the couch, feeling like he was on a cloud right now versus the medbay bed. A whole week cooped up in that bed hadn’t been fun but at least he was out now.

“Hey, Jarvis?” Peter asked, looking up at the ceiling.

_“Yes, Master Parker?”_

“Could you please put on a movie?” He asked.

The large flat screen TV on the wall in front of him turned on after a few seconds.

 _‘What would you like to watch?”_ The AI asked.

Peter thought about it for a moment. He had to choose a movie that Tony would probably like as well.

“The Empire Strikes Back.” He said with a grin.

_“Excellent choice, young sir.”_

Peter raised an eyebrow, glancing up at the ceiling. Who knew that AI’s had taste in movies? He smiled and looked back at the TV as it began to play the movie, the beginning credits starting to roll.

…

The food arrived shortly after Tony got off the phone, which was one of the many reasons why it was his favorite place. When the food was brought up and paid for, Tony brought it over to the living room and deposited the bags on the coffee table before heading back in the kitchen for silverware and plates. Peter was practically drooling when Tony plated his food, which made him laugh because Peter reminded him of a puppy with big brown eyes. After they both had their food, they settled into the couch and continued watching The Empire Strikes Back.

As they sat there, Tony began thinking about his conversation with Pepper the other day. If he was going to move away from the tower, Peter had every right to know about it and have a say in the matter. Besides, it would be the kid’s home too after all. Tony hadn’t called his real estate guy yet because he wanted to talk to Peter about it first.

“So…” He said, taking his eyes away from the TV and looking over at Peter. “I wanted to talk to you about something.” Peter turned his head and looked at him questioningly. “Well, I was thinking about us moving.”

Peter frowned, obviously confused. “Move? But why? You have the Tower and the team’s here… why would you want to move?” He questioned.

Tony let out a small sigh, running a hand through his hair. How was he going to tell the kid that the Avengers were now practically broken up? _Again_. “It’s… a long story but the team and I aren’t exactly on talking terms right now.”

“Why?” Peter asked with a frown before he had a look of realization on his face. “I-Is it because of me? I-Is it because they know I’m Spider-Man?” He blurted out, eyes widening.

Tony let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose, nodding. “Yes but it’s not your fault. This is on me. They found out before I could do anything about it.” He told him, dropping his hand from his face.

“What happened?” Peter asked after a moment.

“We… we all said some stuff. I won’t go into it but we came to an agreement that the team should take a break… at least I am.”

“For how long? I mean, if you’re thinking about moving then it kinda sounds bad.” Peter said.

Tony nodded, letting out a small sigh. “Yeah but I don’t want you to worry about it. Alright? This has nothing to do with you and no one’s mad at you. I promise. I just feel like this is the best thing and we can avoid any future arguments from breaking out. I know that this is sudden… but what do you think about it?” He asked.

Peter looked away from him for a moment as he thought about it. “About moving? I mean, if you think that would be best, sure. But where would we go?”

“I can call me real estate guy and see what he can come up with but we could move anywhere in the city, really. I was thinking a penthouse with a couple of floors so we could have two labs, a few bedrooms and anything else we’d need.” Tony told him.

“What about my school?” Peter asked with a frown.

“We can move somewhere close by so you can still go to Midtown and be able to hang out with your friends. Don’t worry about that, kiddo.”

“It sounds like a cool idea… but it’s really up to you. I’m okay with it.” Peter said, offering a small smile.

“Are you sure? I wanna make sure you’re okay with this.” Tony asked, turning to face the teen a little more.

Peter nodded. “I am.” He said with a smile.

Tony smiled and carefully wrapped an arm around him. Peter moved slightly more towards him, their arms touching. The feeling of Peter next to him calmed Tony’s fears, after everything he’d endured this past week… he was beyond grateful to have Peter right next to him. He was _safe._

They both went back to watching the movie but Tony suddenly thought of something when they were almost half-way finished with it. When had he and Peter really bonded like this? Before the fight with the Goblin, they would mostly keep their distances it seemed. Of course, Peter didn’t though because he was such a loving, affectionate kid. But… when had Tony noticed how he would run his hands through the kid’s hair to help him fall asleep, stay by his side while he slept to make sure he was alright, clear his schedule completely to be with him, worry about if the kid was alright with moving to a different place, and have the need to sit right beside the kid? Someone might say that _The_ Tony Stark was getting soft… and Tony was actually okay with that. Taking care of Peter and hanging out with him felt almost like second nature to him. It was more paternal than anything else.

The thought made him look over at Peter, who was looking at the TV with half-lidded eyes, struggling to keep his eyes open. A small smile tugged at the corner of Tony’s mouth as he pulled Peter a bit closer to him, letting the kid’s head rest on his shoulder. A small sigh escaped from Peter’s lips as he closed his eyes. In all his life, Tony honestly couldn’t remember feeling this content, this happy before. Yes, he was having issues with the team but that didn’t matter to him right now. What mattered was the fifteen year old next to him. Tony smiled and leaned his head back against the couch, looking back at the TV. If this is what being a parent was like… he didn’t mind it at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay! Please let me know your thoughts of this chapter :)


	21. Chapter 21

Tony woke up with the sun shining on his face. He squinted and raised his head, looking down to see Peter completely passed out at his side, his head resting on his shoulder still as he softly snored away. Tony smiled at the sight, not even caring that the kid was drooling on him right now. 

“Morning, Sleeping Beauty.” Pepper’s voice came from across the room, making him turn his head in her direction, seeing her sitting at the center island in the kitchen dressed in a sweater and jeans. “You two have been sleeping for a while.” She said with a smile, getting up from the barstool. 

She walked over to the couch and looked down at Peter, smiling at the sight of him passed out on top of Tony. “How’s he feeling now that he’s out of the medbay?” She softly asked, almost a whisper, eyes still gently lain on Peter. 

“Pretty tired as you can see but he couldn’t wait to get out of there.” Tony responded in the same tone so he didn’t wake the kid up. “What time is it?” 

“Almost noon.”

Wow. He must’ve been more tired than he thought. Tony yawned, rubbing his free hand down his face, ignoring how his left arm was asleep. “When did you get here?” He asked her.

“A while ago. Long enough to see you two snoring away here.” She sarcastically said, turning to look at Tony, her lips curled up in a teasing smile.

He smiled back. He could only imagine the blackmail he’d be getting after this. There’s no way Pepper would let this moment go and not take a picture. But he wouldn’t complain if he somehow got a copy for himself. 

“I’d hate to wake him up but I need to get him to his room so he can rest.” He whispered, looking down at Peter.

“Do you think you could carry him?” Pepper asked.

Tony nodded, slowly trying to move out from underneath Peter. “Yeah, I think so but I just have to be careful of his arm.” He whispered as he managed to move Peter to the side so his back was resting against the couch. 

Tony stood up from the couch and rotated his numb arm, wincing at the pins and needles sensation. The feeling went away after a few moments as he bent down and carefully snaked his arms under Peter’s legs and behind his back before lifting the kid up in his arms. Peter let out a small groan from the movement but thankfully remained sound asleep. Tony walked out of the living room and headed towards the hallway that led to his room, office, and Peter’s bedroom. Pepper walked in front of him, opening Peter’s door for him before she went over to the bed and drew the covers away. Tony carefully maneuvered himself through the doorframe and walked over to the bed, slowly lowering Peter down onto it. Pepper drew the covers over Peter and gently brushed a piece of hair off of his forehead with a small smile. They both silently left the room and Tony left the door open a crack in case Peter woke up and needed him for anything. 

“He looks better.” Pepper commented as they walked back down the hallway. 

“Yeah, he is. I’m still worried about how tired he is though. Bruce says it’s just from the head injury healing up.” Tony said. 

Walking in the kitchen, Tony headed over to the coffee machine and poured himself a cup of the cold, leftover coffee from this morning. He went over to the microwave and put it on for two minutes. When it beeped, he took it out and took a tentative sip. He turned around, only to see Pepper looking at him from the center island. 

“What?” He asked. 

“Nothing…” She said with a smile, looking down at the counter. “It’s just that I can’t really believe that this is you right now.” 

He raised an eyebrow, confused. “What do you mean? In a bad way?”

She shook her head, still smiling. “A good way. A very good way. I’ve just never seen you so… happy before, Tony. Not even when we were together. You really have changed for the better now that Peter’s here. I want you to know that.”

Tony smiled, shrugging. “The kid grows on you after a while.” He said before taking another sip of coffee. 

“He really does.” She agreed with a small laugh.

Neither one of them spoke for a few moments as they took in the peaceful silence of the penthouse. Tony put his now empty mug down on the counter, letting out a sigh. “You know… I never thought that I’d wind up with a kid one day.” He said, breaking the silence. “I just never could picture myself being a father. We both know how much of a role model my old man was.” He sourly said. 

“But your not Howard, Tony. I’ve seen you with Peter.” Pepper reminded him in a serious tone. 

“Is it that obvious?” Tony asked. 

“A little bit, yes but that’s a good thing.” She told him with a smile. 

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, no matter how hard he tried to hide it from her. He honestly had no idea where these paternal instincts had kicked in, maybe when he saw Peter go down in the fight with the Goblin, or sitting with the kid while he recovered down in the medbay. But he didn’t mind it at all… he actually liked it. And he was the same person who didn’t like expressing his emotions to people too. With Peter, he felt like he could honestly be himself and give the kid the affection he needed, even though Tony was trying to work on that more. It was a work in progress. 

“Have you spoken with Rob yet about the penthouse?” Pepper asked, switching the subject. 

Tony blinked, looking up at her. “Uh, no I haven’t yet. I talked to Peter about it this morning. I didn’t want to do this without talking to him about it first.” He said, taking a seat next to her at the center island. 

“How does he feel about it?” Pepper asked. 

“He told me he’s okay with it, actually.” He answered, sitting back against the barstool, running a hand through his hair. 

“Well that’s good.” She said with a small smile. “It might even be fun for him. Maybe when he’s feeling better you two can go to a few penthouses and check them out?” She suggested. 

“Yeah, the kid might like that.” He said, nodding his head with a small smile.

Pepper softly smiled back, the two looking at each other for a moment before she looked away, ducking her head down. She cleared her throat, standing up from the center island. “Well, I should probably get going. I have a lot of work to do.” She said as she went over to the back of the couch, picking up her handbag. “Oh, and please take a look at that email I sent you about the R&D project when you get a chance.” 

“Will do, boss.” He sarcastically said, standing up from the center island and giving her a mock salute. He walked over to the coffee machine and poured himself another cup. “You want a to-go cup?” He offered, looking over at her as she put her coat on by the living room. 

“No, that’s alright. Please tell Peter I hope he feels better.” She said with a smile as she began to head towards the elevator. 

“Or you know… you could tell him yourself?” He blurted out, making her pause as she stood at the elevator across the room. “You could come over for dinner tonight, maybe? I was thinking about cooking something special for the kid.”

She looked over at him questioningly, an eyebrow slightly raised, almost an amused expression on her face. “You? Cooking?” She asked. 

Tony shrugged. “Yeah, why not?”

“You never cooked when we dated. And the one time you did, I distinctly remember a fire extinguisher was involved and you needed to buy a new stove.” She teased with a smile. 

“Well, Miss Potts, I will have you know that my cooking has improved since then. I’m not the same guy you remember.” Tony said with a grin. 

A small laugh escaped from her before she shook her head. “Well I guess I’ll have to see this ‘new you’ then.” 

“Seven thirty?” He asked. 

“I’ll be here.” She said with a smile as she stepped into the elevator when the doors automatically opened for her. “Just don’t burn the tower down.”

“No promises!” Tony called to her as the elevator doors slid closed. 

A smile spread on his face as he leaned back against the countertop, looking away from the elevator as he took a sip of his coffee. He honestly had no idea where the idea to make dinner had come from but it wasn’t too bad of an idea. Come to think of it, Tony didn’t even know if he’d ever cooked for Peter since the kid started living with him. It was always take out food or someone else’s cooking. Maybe it was time he did cook something. Tony let out a sigh. That was going to be a tad bit harder than he thought. 

“J, pull up a list of easy to make meals.” He said, taking another sip of his coffee.

_ “On it, sir.” _

 

…

 

_ A smashing sound made Peter jump up from his bed, startled from the sudden sound. It was late at night as he sat in his room in the Tower. He frowned as he swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat up slowly, walking over to his bedroom door.  _

_ “Tony?” He hesitantly called out into the dark hallway.  _

_ But no one answered. Peter frowned, stepping out into the hallway. The penthouse was eerily silent, the only sound being his rapid heartbeat in his ears. He silently walked down the hallway, stopping at Tony’s open door, only to find the room dark and empty. Maybe Tony dropped something in the kitchen? _

_ “T-Tony?” Peter called out again, continuing down the hallway.  _

_ When he reached the end of the hallway, he looked out into the open space of the living room and kitchen, only to see it dark just like the rest of the penthouse. It had to be around eleven at night and he knew for a fact that Tony was always up at this time. But where was he now? _

_ “Jarvis?” Peter called out, looking up at the ceiling.  _

_ No answer. And no answer was a very bad thing. That could only mean that someone had hacked into Jarvis’ mainframe and turned him off, which meant that the Tower was defenseless against an attack now. There was a loud smash in the living room, making Peter’s heartbeat jump and stutter, hiding himself behind the wall. He let out a small, shaky breath as he felt his heart beating a mile a minute in his chest. He could hear the sound of heavy footsteps, coming his way. Peter’s eyes widened as he slowly backed away, retreating back to his bedroom. When he got in his room he swiftly turned off the lights with the switch and closed his door silently. The only source of lighting was from the moon shining outside of the floor-to-ceiling windows. _

_ He could hear the footsteps right outside his door now, the door’s knob being slowly turned.  _

_ Peter’s eyes widened in fear as he frantically scanned his room, looking for a place to hide. His eyes landed on his bed. Peter silently jumped over to the other side of his bed and dived down under it, wiggling around to squeeze himself underneath the tight space. He knew that this was the most obvious hiding place but he had no choice right now. He didn’t even know who he was hiding from. It could be Tony playing around with him for all he knew. His bedroom door was flown open, the sound of it banging against the wall making Peter flinch. Heavy footsteps entered his room, coming closer to his hiding spot. Peter rested his chin on the carpeted floor, silently breathing out from his mouth. From here, he could see the person’s boots. _

_ “I know you’re in here little spider…”  _

_ Peter felt an icy chill run down his spine. No. It was him. He was back.  _

_ “Where are you?” The Goblin softly said, almost as if he wasn’t trying to kill him.  _

_ Peter tightly closed his eyes as he heard the Goblin walk past him, going over to his closet and opening the doors, rummaging around. That was Peter’s second hiding spot idea, which he was grateful he hadn’t gone in there but if the Goblin looked under the bed… Peter would be caught.  _

_ “Come on out now. I’m not going to hurt you.” _

_ Peter was shaking with fear now. He silently prayed that the Goblin would just give up and leave his room to give him a chance to get away. Footsteps came over to the foot of his bed, mere feet away from his head. Peter quietly scooched backwards, slowly dragging a few clothing items he had under here in front of him to possibly hide himself. _

_ “Peter… I will find you so just give up.” Goblin darkly said.  _

_ Peter looked at the Goblin’s booted feet, seeing that he was bending down to look under the bed. No no no no. Tears were beginning to slide down Peter’s cheeks as he quietly pushed himself back against the wall, feeling like a trapped animal in a corner. He would give anything right now to have Ant Man’s shrinking suit. Peter ducked his head under the clothes he was hiding behind, desperately wanting Tony with him right now. He wanted to feel protected in his arms, shielded from the world around him. _

_ “Peter…” The Goblin chanted, looking under the bed, his yellow glowing eyes standing out in the dark from underneath the bed. His eyes shifted around before they landed on the pile of clothes Peter was hiding behind. “There you are!” The Goblin yelled, ripping the clothes away as Peter let out a cry as the Goblin’s cackling laughter filled the air.  _

Peter’s eyes snapped open as he shot up in bed, pain searing down his arm from the movement. His head was pounding, making a small pained whine escape from his lips. His room was partially dark and all Peter could invision right now was the Goblin’s glowing yellow eyes. In a matter of seconds, Peter felt his chest tighten as his heart raced in his chest. Panic seized him as his eyes darted around his room. It was too dark. He felt alone, like the darkness was threatening to swallow him whole.

“T-Tony!” He yelled, his chest tightening.  “Tony!”

His heartbeat was beating so loud in his ears that he didn’t even hear the thundering footsteps coming towards his room. He felt hands on him, a hand resting on his tear-stained cheek. 

“Peter? What’s wrong? Tell me what’s wrong, kiddo.” He heard Tony ask him, his voice sounding panicked. “Open your eyes for me.”

Peter slowly opened his eyes as a few tears spilled out, his eyes meeting Tony’s concerned ones. Without thinking, Peter lunged forward and wrapped his good arm around him, shoving his face into his neck. Tony’s arms immediately fell on his back, rubbing small circles. Peter let out a wet sob as he felt Tony’s arms tighten around him. 

“It’s okay… you’re okay. You’re safe, kiddo.” Tony’s soft voice filled his ears.

“Y-You w-weren’t there... “ Peter sobbed. 

“I’m here now. I’m right here.” Tony soothed, placing a hand at the back of Peter’s head. 

They sat like that for several minutes as Peter cried. Tony continued to rub his back and whisper reassurances in his ear. Peter had no idea how long they were like that before he felt himself begin to calm down, the tears subsiding. Peter let out a shaky breath, leaning more into Tony as exhaustion took over him. They were both silent for a few moments as Peter took in shaky breaths. 

“Another nightmare?” Tony quietly asked after a moment, his tone understanding. 

Peter slowly nodded into his chest, feeling the a hand running through his hair. He could already feel himself calming down as he listened to Tony’s heart beat. He deeply breathed in, smelling Tony’s signature smell of gasoline and his cologne. The smell made Peter feel safe. It was kind of like how May’s lavender puffins made him feel safe whenever he hugged her. He just didn’t know when he began to feel the same way with Tony. 

“Wanna talk about it?” Tony softly asked. 

Peter quickly shook his head, wincing when it sent a sharp pain shot through his head. 

“How about we go into the living room? You can watch a movie while I start dinner?” Tony asked. 

Peter slowly nodded, pulling away. Tony offered a small smile, cupping Peter’s face in his hands as he wiped the tears away with his thumbs. Tony stood up from the bed and pulled the comforter away from Peter, helping him stand up slowly. Peter winced when his head pounded a little more now that he was standing up but he ignored it for the moment as they began to head towards his bedroom door and out into the hallway. All the lights were on in the kitchen, as well as the hanging pendant lights above the center island. Tony steered him in the direction of the living room and sat him down on the couch. 

“J, raise the lights to fifteen percent.” Tony commanded as he grabbed the throw blanket from the love seat and brought it over to Peter, draping it over him up to his shoulders. Tony sat down next to him, a worried look on his face. “How are you feeling? Any pain?” 

“Yeah, my heads bothering me.” Peter quietly said, still shaken up from his nightmare. 

Tony nodded and stood up, heading into the kitchen for something. Peter leaned his aching head back against the couch, closing his eyes as he listened to running the sink water in the kitchen. 

“Alright, kiddo. Medicine time.” Tony announced, walking back over to the living room. His throat was tight and dry, flashes of his own horrors bouncing around the back of his brain.

Peter opened his eyes and sluggishly rolled his head to the side, looking up at Tony with half-lidded eyes. Tony frowned, placing a glass of water on the coffee table in front of them before he sat down next to Peter.

“You really don’t feel good huh, bud?” He sympathetically asked, placing a hand on the top of Peter’s head. “How about you take your pain meds, then you can lie down here and I’ll put on a movie for you, okay?” 

“Okay.” Peter softly repeated.

Tony unscrewed the top of the pill bottle and handed Peter one, who put it in his mouth. He then reached forward and picked up the glass of water and handed it to Peter.

“Make sure you drink all of that. I don’t want you to get dehydrated.” Tony told him. 

Peter nodded and swallowed the pill before sitting back against the couch, taking a few more sips. Tony watched him with concerned eyes before he let out a small sigh,pulling the blanket back up to Peter’s shoulders. “I probably should have seen how you were feeling first but I invited Pepper for dinner tonight. I thought I could cook something up for us.” He said after a moment. 

Peter rolled his head to the side and looked at him with small tired smile. “That sounds good.”

“Yeah? Well you just lie down here and I’ll get started. Pepper should be here in a half an hour or so.” Tony said as he stood up from the couch, grabbing a throw pillow and putting it down at the end of the couch. “Lie down, kiddo.” He said as he took the now empty glass from Peter and helped him lie down, head resting on the pillow. 

“Thanks.” Peter tiredly said as Tony draped the blanket over him. 

“No problem, kiddo.” Tony said with a smile, standing back up. “Hey, J? Play a movie under the Baby G Movies Protocol.” 

_ “Yes, sir.”  _ Jarvis said, silent for a moment as the TV turned on.  _ “Playing Toy Story.”  _

Peter frowned, looking up at Tony with a tired, unimpressed look. “Did you really make a protocol for G rated movies?” 

Tony grinned down at him with a shrug. “Hey, I gotta watch out for you, kiddo.”

Peter let out a small sigh, resting his head against the pillow. He would have argued with him if he wasn’t feeling so bad. But right now, he would take any movie as a distraction from his nightmare. 

“I’ll be right in the kitchen so just let me know if you need anything, kiddo.” Tony told him before walking out of the living room and back into the kitchen. 

Peter snuggled down under the blanket, trying to ignore the pulsing pain from his right arm and his pounding head. He hoped that the pill he took would kick in soon. The movie began to play on the TV and Peter let himself focus on that, hearing the sounds of pots and pans in the kitchen in the background. 


	22. Chapter 22

After turning the movie on for Peter, Tony retreated back into the kitchen and began the process of making dinner. And that was a bit of an odd process for him. Usually he would just order take out or someone else on the team would cook. But now, he was really on his own and he had a kid to worry about, which meant that he’d have to kick it up a notch and get used to cooking meals. Jarvis had been wonderful and compiled a list of ‘easy to make family meals’ and Tony had found a pasta dish that seemed relatively easy to make based off of the instructions. And it actually was, surprisingly. It was now close to seven thirty in the evening and he was almost finished with dinner. Tony stood over the stove, stirring the pasta shells together with broccoli in the pot. He grabbed a fork from the counter next to the stove and tried a piece of the pasta, smiling to himself when it actually tasted pretty good. He reached down and turned the stove off, leaving the pot on the stove to keep the pasta warm. 

“How am I looking on time, J?” He asked as he began to put the spices he used away, picking up a dirty mixing bowl and bringing it to the sink. 

_ “You are right on time, sir.”  _

“Great.” Tony smiled, turning the water on as he started to wash the bowl out. 

He glanced into living room at Peter, who was still lying down on the couch. Tony had gone over a few times in the past hour and checked on him, only to find that he had fallen asleep at some point during the movie. Tony let out a small sigh, looking back down at the bowl he was cleaning. When he was done, he left it by the sink to dry a bit and went over to a cabinet and took out a few plates and glasses.  

_ “Miss Potts has arrived.”  _ Jarvis announced. 

“Great. Thanks, J.” 

He heard the elevator doors open up, making him look across the room as Pepper stepped out, dressed in black pants, a pink blouse and heels. She looked up at him, smiling as she walked over to the kitchen. As she looked at the living room, she raised an eyebrow at the TV when she saw that Toy Story was playing. 

“Your movie choice?” She teased, looking at him. 

“No, he had a nightmare so I brought him out in the living room. He fell asleep not too long ago.” Tony told her as he brought the dishes over to the center island. 

Peper smiled as she picked the glasses up and brought them over to the center island. “That’s sweet of you.” She commented with a knowing look.

Tony just smiled, going over to the drawer where the cutlery were kept. 

“Well dinner smells wonderful. I’ll admit that I was a bit nervous about what I’d find coming up here.” She sarcastically told him as she took a seat at the center island on one of the barstools. 

“Yeah, I’d be nervous too.” He admitted, thinking back to a few meals he’d tried making in the past that resulted in a fire extinguisher being used. “And I didn’t even burn anything.” He added with a grin and a pleased gesture of hands. 

“Progress.” Pepper smiled. “Do you need any help with anything?” 

“No, it’s all ready. You can just take a seat.” He said, picking the pot of pasta up, bringing it over to the center island and setting it down on a round mat. 

“Did you want me to wake Peter up?” She offered. 

Tony looked over into the living room, shaking his head. “I can do it. He was pretty shaken up earlier when he woke up from a nightmare, a bad one I’m guessing.” 

“Did he talk to you about it?” 

“No… he hasn’t talked to me about his nightmares at all. I wish he would so he could get it off his chest but… I don’t know.” He sighed. 

“Well, I’m sure if you talk to him about it he might.” 

Tony nodded. “Yeah. I’ll talk to him about it soon. I just don’t want to pressure him or anything.” He told her as he walked around the center island, heading towards the living room. 

The movies’ end credits was rolling now, the soft classical music filling the room. Tony looked over at Peter, who was still sound asleep. He kneeled down next to the sleeping teen, gently shaking his uninjured shoulder. 

“Hey, underoos. Wakey, wakey.” Tony murmured, as Peter began to scrunch his face, beginning to wake up. “It’s dinner time.” 

“No… M’ tired.” Peter sleepily groaned.

“I know but you gotta eat. bud. You can sleep a little later.”

Peter let out a small sigh, groaning when he began to push himself up. Tony reached forward and helped him sit up. A small smile tugged at the corner of his lips at the sight of Peter. His hair was sticking up all over, a few sleep lines from the pillow on his left cheek, and his eyes were half-lidded, reminding Tony of a puppy that had just woken up from a long nap. It was honestly an adorable sight. 

“What time is it?” Peter yawned, rubbing his eyes sleepily with his good arm. 

“Seven thirty-ish. You’ve been asleep for a while.” Tony explained watching the way how Peter glanced around at the darkened room. 

“Wow that long?” 

“Yeah, as soon as I put the movie on you conked right out.” 

Peter hummed, blinking blearily around the room, seeming to struggle to shake off the last vestiges of sleep away. 

“You hungry?” Tony asked him. 

“Yes. I’m absolutely starving.” Peter nodded, pushing himself to his feet. 

They both headed over to the kitchen where Pepper was waiting for them at the center island, filling up the glasses with lemon and water. 

“Hey, Peter. Are you feeling any better?” She greeted.

“Much better, actually.” Peter smiled at her. 

“Well that’s good to hear. Tony’s mother henning paying off?” She smirked, glancing at Tony. 

Tony half-heartedly rolled his eyes at her comment as he went over to the stove. “Oh you know me so well, Pep.” 

Peter let out a small laugh as he sat down at the counter. Pepper smiled as she sat down as well. Tony grabbed the dishes and began to plate the pasta before placing them down on the placemats in front of them at the center island. After he sat down, they all began to dig in. When Peter took a forkful in his mouth, his eyes widened comically with a moan.

Tony let out a chuckle as he looked over at the teen with a knowing grin. “I take it that you like it?” 

Peter jerkily nodded. “It’s so amazing! What is it?” 

“Garlic oil sauteed pasta with broccoli.” Tony answered, taking a bite himself, a bit surprised to find that it actually did taste good. Usually he would make something that looked somewhat presentable but tasted the total opposite. He was learning slowly, but it was progress nonetheless.

“I didn’t know you could cook.” Peter added around a mouthful. “Usually we just get take-out.” 

“Well not anymore, kiddo. I’m going to be cooking from here on out.” Tony declared with a smile.

“Now that will be fun to see.” Pepper sarcastically commented with a smile. “I hope the kitchen survives.” 

“I will let you know Miss Potts that I have become quite the chief recently.” Tony defended, a hand on his chest in a mock hurt expression.

Pepper rolled her eyes with a smile. “Yes, you’ve already told me that fact.” 

“And it’s true.” Tony smirked. 

“Well this is pretty good so I can believe it.” Peter added.

Tony turned to him and smiled, wrapping an arm around his shoulder before looking back at Pepper. “See? This is why I love this kid.” 

Once they all finished dinner, Tony collected their dishes and put them into the dishwasher, along with their glasses and silverware. 

“How about we all watch a movie?” Pepper suggested. 

“Yeah that sounds good.” Tony smiled, glancing over at Peter. “That sound good to you, buckaroo?” 

“Yeah and can we have popcorn too?” The teen asked with a smile.  

“What’s a movie night without popcorn?” 

After throwing three bags of popcorn in the microwave, Tony went about in the kitchen making hot chocolate as Pepper and Peter headed out into the living room to choose a movie. Once everything was all made and ready, Tony put the large bowl of popcorn and three mugs of hot chocolate on a wooden tray and headed over to join them.

“Hmm… how about the Hallmark Channel? I heard that they’re playing some good Thanksgiving movies this weekend.” Pepper offered. 

“Yeah that sounds good.” Peter smiled but it faltered after a few beats. “I use to watch Hallmark movies with May all the time, especially around Christmas.” 

Tony’s heart constricted painfully at the sight of Peter, seeing the sad look fall over his face. His brown eyes seemed a little distant now, probably because he was thinking of what he once had before his aunt’s death. Tony could understand that but it still hurt him to see Peter so sad. 

“Well I made some hot chocolate to go along with our popcorn.” Tony offered with a gentle smile, placing the tray down on the coffee table in front of the couch. 

He handed one to Peter, who took it with a small, obviously forced smile. After handing Pepper hers as well, he sat down on the couch in between them, placing the popcorn next to him and Peter. As soon as the movie started after the commercials, the room lapsed into a comfortable silence. The movie was about two families who are engaged in a ‘pumpkin pie war’ with each other, which Tony found to be amusing. It also made him wonder if he could try to make pumpkin pie sometime in the near future. He found himself glancing over at Peter a few times, seeing that the sad look in the teen’s eyes was still there. He just wished that there was something he could do to take the pain Peter was feeling away. No fifteen year old should have to go through everything that he’s been through. The poor kid’s experienced enough grief for a whole lifetime. 

Without thinking, Tony reached an arm over and draped it around Peter’s shoulders. At first he’d thought that he’d move away but instead, Peter leaned into his side more and rested his head on his shoulder. Tony softly smiled, carding his fingers through Peter’s unruly curls. He heard Peter let out a small sigh, feeling him relax in his side. After spending all this time with the kid, Tony’s noticed that he needed some kind of physical contact. Growing up with May, he was sure that included hugs, snuggling and a reassuring hand running through his hair whenever Peter was sick or upset. Tony didn’t really like  people touching him and stuff but lately, he didn’t think twice about being a steadying presence at Peter’s side, wrapping an arm around his shoulders or sitting with the kid in his side. It was reassuring, calming even. It even felt paternal, which was a feeling Tony wasn’t use to and this was coming from the same man that said he never wanted kids. But being around Peter and taking care of him after the past two months… Tony was actually liking the idea of being a dad. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked this chapter! Let me know your thoughts! :)


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